


Close to You

by Victorrotto



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Byun Baekhyun is Hopelessly in Love, Childhood Friends, Coming of Age, First Love, Long-Distance Friendship, M/M, Minor Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongin | Kai, Minor Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Oh Sehun is a Tease
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:01:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 49,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23300578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Victorrotto/pseuds/Victorrotto
Summary: Baekhyun falls in love with a new boy on the first day of high school, only for the boy to move away the moment they start getting close.Meanwhile, Sehun's living his best life in a new country but can't find happiness.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Oh Sehun
Comments: 66
Kudos: 104





	1. Chapter 1

Baekhyun never believed in love at the first sight, but he certainly does now. The boy sitting across from him is laughing hard at one of Kai’s very cringy jokes, and Baekhyun’s heart skips a beat as the boy cackles and throws his long arms everywhere around him.

Sehun is just perfect.

“You’re both idiots,” Eunjin scoffs, rolling her eyes before pulling out her phone.

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud,” Minhee pokes her best friend. “I think it was pretty funny. What about you, Baekhyun?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s pretty funny,” Baekhyun mutters, earning him an air fist bump from a very elated Kai.

“I can’t believe we’ve never met before,” Minhee continues, leaning forward in her seat. Baekhyun clenches his fist—he knows Minhee well enough to differentiate between her leaning in to hear more and her leaning in to show off her impressive cleavage. And right now, she’s making it so obvious that she wants Sehun to stare at those boobies, and much to Baekhyun’s chagrin, stare he does.

Of course he’s straight.

“I mean, Jongin talks about you guys all the time,” Sehun smiles. “I kinda feel like I’ve known you for a long time.”

“Oh my gosh,” Minhee exclaims, “I can’t believe you get away with using his real name! He’d kill us before we can even say Jong—”

“Don’t go there,” Kai cuts her off immediately.

“Well, what can I say?” Sehun shrugs, wrapping his long arm around Kai’s shoulders and pulling him into a tight bro-hug. “Nini’s got a soft spot for me.”

“You call him  _ Nini _ ?!” Eunjin gasps. “What the freak, man?”

Kai actually blushes a little bit at that. “Stop embarrassing me in front of the girls, Sehun.”

Minhee nudges Eunjin in the ribs with a knowing smirk. Baekhyun smiles a tiny bit at that. It’s a very well known secret that Eunjin harbors a secret crush on Kai. It’s no surprise, really; Kai is objectively hot. The boy’s been doing ballet since first grade, and it shows—even at the age of 14, Jongin’s body already looks straight out of a health magazine or something. And let’s not even get started on his face. The boy can and  _ will _ get girls, Baekhyun’s sure of it.

But Sehun. Sehun’s charms are so different. He’s lanky, almost like a noodle, really; his face is soft, he’s still got a little bit of baby fat on his cheeks, and the way he blinks is just adorable, and Baekhyun never thought he’d be attracted to someone  _ cute _ like Sehun, but here we are.

He’s also Minhee’s type, it seems.

Baekhyun takes a sweeping glance around. Usually, only the four of them, minus Sehun, take Caltrain to San Jose. They’ve been best friends since middle school; the infamous F4, if you may. Except not really, they’re called F4 only in Baekhyun’s head canon, but that’s beside the point. Minhee, Jongin, Eunjin, and himself have attended the same private institution since elementary school, and being from the same Palo Alto neighborhood, they’ve always been close.

Eunjin’s the de-facto leader of the group. She’s a level-headed, reserved girl who doesn’t indulge Kai’s idiotic ideas (she probably does on the inside, but tries really hard not to let it show). Kai is the “crazy” guy, but not in your typical sense. He’s probably the most introverted one in the group—around others, he’s quiet and shy, but when it’s just the four of them, he’s the most obnoxious one with a knack for really, really bad calls. Minhee’s his enabler; she’s the cool chick, always up for mayhem, and is really bad at discreetly trying to set Kai and Eunjin together.

And Baekhyun? He’s just… kind of there. He hangs out with them, laughs at Kai’s antics, argues with Minhee over the details of the latest gossip, but that’s about it. He honestly doesn’t think he’d even hang out with the group had it not been for Minhee, his best best friend.

Who seems to be after Baekhyun’s crush right now, so maybe he should re-label her as a rival.

Fuck. Who is he kidding? Baekhyun’s got no chance with Sehun. Statistically speaking, Minhee’s definitely got an advantage, thanks to her… body parts. And even if he did swing Baekhyun’s way, would he even be interested in a nerd like him?

Probably not.

“That’s such a shame that you’re not going to our high school,” Minhee pouts. “It’d be so awesome to have another cool guy to hang out with!”

“Yeah, it sucks,” Sehun agrees sheepishly. “I thought I’d finally get to hang out with Nini more often. But I guess the train rides will have to be enough.”

“Aww,” Minhee coos. “Such a sweet bromance!”

She lightly kicks Baekhyun’s foot while suppressing a smirk. Baekhyun just looks away. She is  _ so _ not good at being discreet. Sometimes, Baekhyun regrets coming out to her. Don’t get him wrong—Minhee’s probably the best possible person he could’ve come out to. She’s been nothing short of supportive and sweet throughout his whole self-realization thing, but sometimes, she just makes things so obvious without meaning to.

But lucky for him, Kai and Eunjin are both goofs who have eyes only for each other (and both refusing to believe that the other may reciprocate their feelings), so his secret’s still safe. For now.

❊ ❊ ❊

“Sehun!” Minhee calls out as soon as she and Baekhyun sit down on one side of the free seats. “Come sit with us!”

She wiggles her eyebrows and winks in the direction of Kai and Eunjin. Sehun suppresses a smirk and nods his head quickly.

And then he decides to sit down to Baekhyun’s  _ right _ , next to the aisle. Minhee’s face falls, but she recovers very quickly and is all smiles again.

Kai and Eunjin finally catch up to them and look uncomfortably at the seating arrangement.

“What?” Minhee shrugs, feigning ignorance.

“Nothing,” Kai shakes his head hurriedly and sits down at the window. Eunjin raises her eyebrow but sits down as well.

The two of them look positively  _ red _ for the rest of the ride.

“So, Sehun, what time do you get out of school?” Minhee asks. “I was thinking, maybe the five of us could hang out before going home. Like, Happy Lemon?”

Sehun’s eyes widen and he smiles broadly. “Happy Lemon? Totally! I love boba!”

“Me too!” Minhee grins.

Baekhyun’s not enjoying this third wheeling situation.

“Their lemonade is alright,” Eunjin says, clearing her throat.

“Y-yeah, I think I can get some of that too,” Kai mutters. Baekhyun bites back a snarky remark, as do Minhee and Sehun. They  _ all _ know Kai hates sour things, but apparently infatuation can even make lemons taste sweet.

“And what about you?” Sehun asks, looking right at Baekhyun.

“Uh…” Baekhyun blinks. “I like taro milk tea.”

“Really now,” Sehun grins. He stretches out his arm and wraps it around Baekhyun’s shoulders, pulling him into the same bro-hug Kai got the day before. “It’s a taro date then, babe.”

Baekhyun’s face turns beet red. Minhee scratches her neck.

❊ ❊ ❊

Sehun’s  _ very _ touchy, Baekhyun finds out over the next couple of weeks. He clings onto Kai one second and has hands all over Baekhyun the next. Kai—or  _ Nini _ , as they have all come to call him now in Sehun’s presence—just laughs it off, but Baekhyun has to fight back the rush of emotions every single time Sehun’s fingers even brush against his shoulders.

“You like him, don’t you?” Minhee whispers one day as they’re walking through Macy’s together, with Sehun third-wheeling the Eunkai couple for a change.

“What?” Baekhyun tries to deflect.

“Don’t you dare, Baekhyun,” Minhee scoffs. “I can see right through you.”

“ _ Well _ ,” Baekhyun draws, “he’s really cute.”

“Bitch, Kai’s cute,” Minhee shoves him lightly. “I can see it all over your face. You’re like ten levels too deep, pretty boy.”

“Don’t call me that.” Baekhyun’s not pretty.

“You’re not denying though,” Minhee points out, her lips curling into a smirk. “Is this it? Are we finally ending this ill-fated friendship over a new boy in town?”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun shoves her back. “We’re not letting a  _ boy  _ get between us.”

“Damn right we’re not,” Minhee agrees. “He’s fair game. Whoever gets him first wins. Loser gives up and we have a good laugh about it. Deal?”

“Deal.”

But Baekhyun doesn’t know if he really means it. He doesn’t know if he could survive seeing Minhee and Sehun together.

❊ ❊ ❊

Turns out he doesn’t have to. Sehun’s already got a girlfriend.

“Guys, this is Laura,” Sehun introduces a petite girl with the brightest grey eyes Baekhyun’s ever seen. “Laura, these are the new friends I’ve been telling you about.”

“It’s really nice to finally meet you guys!” Laura grins. “Well, I know Jongin, of course.”

“You let her use your real name?!” Minhee gasps. “I feel, like,  _ so _ betrayed right now!”

“We’re not cool enough, I guess,” Baekhyun laughs. He notices that both Minhee and himself are purposefully not acknowledging Laura being Sehun’s girlfriend.

“Guys, come on,” Kai shakes his head. “If you guys start, it’s only a matter of time before everybody else at schools starts as well.”

“But I like your name,” Eunjin mutters.

“Um, you do?” Kai blinks. “Well, I… I guess that if you  _ do _ , you can too?”

“Oh, cool, so we can all now—”

“Not you, Minhee.”

Laura and Sehun laugh hard at the exchange. Baekhyun notices that the way the two of them laugh is exactly the same. They both have that weird infectious cackling laugh and flail their limbs around. It’s kind of cute and annoying at the same time. Well, one is cute and the other is annoying.

❊ ❊ ❊

“Hey, babe,” Sehun whispers in Baekhyun’s ear as he gives him a tight back hug.

“Yeah?” Baekhyun mutters, hoping that his touchy feely training with Minhee during the weekend has helped him build at least a mild resistance to Sehun.

It hasn’t.

“So I was thinking,” Sehun purrs. “How about we play some League tonight?”

Baekhyun snorts. Of course. “You want me to carry your ass to Diamond?”

“Well,” Sehun sighs, “I guess Platinum would be enough.”

“I guess I could,” Baekhyun says slowly, doing his best not to seem too eager to hang out with Sehun, even if it’s just online. “I do have a Silver smurf.”

“Great!” Sehun grins. “I’m like Gold II right now. You think we can get to Plat by the end of the week?”

And Baekhyun sees his opening right there. “I don’t know. We’d have to play every night. You up for that?”

“If you are,” Sehun grins. “Got nothing better to do anyway.”

“Oh?” Baekhyun clears his throat. “Well, I thought… I don’t know, you’d like, hang out with Laura or something.” Or something.

“Nah,” Sehun shakes his head. “Bros before hoes, right? Not that Laura’s a hoe. Not at all. She’s a sweetheart. Don’t tell her I almost called her a hoe.”

“Sure, dude,” Baekhyun nods.

“It’s a League date then!” Sehun laughs and stretches one of his arms around Baekhyun’s shoulders for a high five.

“Yeah, it’s a date.”

❊ ❊ ❊

Four sleepless nights later, Baekhyun finally sinks back in his chair as Discord-Sehun screams excitedly on the other end.

“Holy shit!” Sehun exclaims. “Finally! God, that was painful. Man, thanks so much for bearing with me.”

“You’re welcome,” Baekhyun smiles to himself. He totally will have to make another smurf account now, but for Sehun, he can totally do that.

“You’re the best, Baek!” Sehun continues. “I can’t believe I’ve finally made Platinum!”

Baekhyun’s smile falters. He’s done it. He carried Sehun through the hell that is Platinum Rank promotions. Now what?

“So, do you want to play another game or—”

“Sehun!” a shrill voice calls.

“One second,” Sehun mutters and puts himself on mute.

And so Baekhyun waits. One seconds turns into five minutes, five minutes into fifteen, and it’s not for another ten minutes until Sehun finally unmutes himself.

“Sorry about that,” Sehun says. His voice sounds strained.

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun asks slowly.

“I… I’ll tell you about it tomorrow, okay?” Sehun says quietly.

“Hm, okay,” Baekhyun mutters. He doesn’t like how serious Sehun suddenly sounds. “I hope everything’s alright.”

“Mmm.”

❊ ❊ ❊

Everything's not alright. No, in fact, everything’s fucking wrong.

“What do you mean?” Kai asks, bewildered.

“You’re joking, right?” Minhee joins in.

“I’m afraid not,” Sehun gives them a strained smile. “We’re leaving at the end of the week.”

“What the fuck?” Eunjin exclaims, which earns her a shocked gasp from Kai. Park Eunjin never swears, so it is kind of scary.

“There must be something you can do about it!” Minhee insists.

“Sorry,” Sehun mutters quietly. “I wish I could’ve told you sooner, but… yeah. I’m just going to pack up my stuff today.”

Baekhyun can’t get any words out. He refuses to accept what’s happening.

“This is ridiculous!” Eunjin snaps. “Baekhyun, say something!”

“Just....”

Sehun gives him an apologetic smile. “Sorry for wasting your time like that. Well, at least I had fun playing with you.”

“Yeah, me too,” Baekhyun manages to say at least.

And just as fast as his first love comes, it also leaves. Because Sehun’s getting on a one-way plane back to South Korea at the end of the week.


	2. Chapter 2

“Eat,” Minhee tells him as Baekhyun absentmindedly pokes at his food.

“I’m not hungry,” Baekhyun replies grumpily.

“Just eat before I shove the plate down your throat,” Minhee glares at him.

Baekhyun sighs and slowly puts the fork in his mouth. “Happy?”

Minhee hugs him and whispers, “I’m so sorry, Baekhyun. You really liked him, didn’t you?”

“Let’s not talk about it,” Baekhyun sighs as he pushes the plate away.

There were no goodbyes. No party. No nothing. Sehun didn’t come back with them that day. He never came online on Discord. He didn’t come hang out with them the next evening at Chipotle. Kai saw him once, the day before his flight. He said Sehun just looked tired.

And just like that, the week flew by, and so did Sehun.

“I wonder how Laura’s doing,” Eunjin says.

Baekhyun’s muscles tense. He hadn’t even thought of her. He’s feeling devastated right now, but what about her? She was his girlfriend, after all. She must have been devastated when Sehun broke her the news.

“Baekhyun, are you alright?” Kai asks him. “You look sick.”

“Just feeling a bit under the weather,” Baekhyun lies. “I’m going ahead, see you guys in class later.”

Minhee and Eunjin exchange glances, but neither says anything.

❊ ❊ ❊

Baekhyun stares at his phone screen. It’s now or never.

He quickly hits the “Add Friend” button before he can regret it. As soon as he does, he immediately throws his phone on his bed.

They have Facebook access in Korea, right?

He glances at his clock. It’s 7 PM in California, so… wait, mental math… 11 AM in Korea? Did he get it right? Maybe Sehun will see the notification.

And Baekhyun waits. He waits some more.

He puts on an episode of Love Is Blind while he’s waiting. He really feels sorry for Jessica.

He looks at his phone screen again. Maybe Sehun’s eating lunch.

He puts on Riverdale instead. Maybe Jughead will distract him enough.

Sehun still doesn’t accept his friend request three episodes in. Baekhyun turns off his laptop and opens his physics textbook instead. He makes several stupid mistakes, but at least he caught them before putting away the homework.

There are still no new notifications on his phone.

❊ ❊ ❊

“Have you talked to Sehun yet?” Minhee asks Kai out of the blue on their way home one day.

“Yeah,” Kai nods. “We chatted yesterday night. He said everything is overwhelming. They make fun of his Korean.”

“Damn, that’s tough,” Minhee purses her lips. “I thought that only happens for the new kids in America.”

“Kids are stupid everywhere,” Eunjin says.

So Sehun’s been online. Great.

❊ ❊ ❊

It’s not for another four days until Baekhyun finally gets the notification he’s been waiting for.

_ Sehun Oh has accepted your friend request! _

Baekhyun’s heart drops as he receives the first message.

**_Sehun_ ** _ : … Is this you, Baekhyun? _

Baekhyun wants to facepalm himself. He’s such an idiot. His display name is freaking “Bacon McBaconface” and his profile picture is a shriveled and burnt piece of bacon (why Facebook hasn’t deleted him yet, he honestly has no idea).

**_Bacon_ ** _ : ummm yeah lmao sozz :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Oh OTL _

Baekhyun finds himself grinning like a madman.

**_Bacon_ ** _ : how have you been?? _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : I’ve been fine (^__^) How about you? _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : yeah things have been alright… but we miss you :( _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : I miss you too UwU _

Baekhyun chooses to believe that this last comment is meant for him specifically.

**_Bacon_ ** _ : i miss you more D: _

Crap. The fuck did he just type? Is there a delete button? Surely he must be able to delete a message—well, Sehun’s just seen it. Screw his life.

**_Sehun_ ** _ : No I miss you the most (>__<) _

Baekhyun melts away. Sehun’s so cute!

**_Bacon_ ** _ : wyd? :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Thinking about how much I miss you (–.–) _

Okay. He’s cute, but he’s a bit  _ too _ cute. Baekhyun can’t handle this.

**_Bacon_ ** _ : stop :x _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : But I’m serious \\(;__;)/ _

Baekhyun takes a deep breath.

**_Bacon_ ** _ : if you miss me so much, why dont you call me :DDD _

Is he coming off too strong?

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Maybe some other day. I’m in class right now (=__=)zZz _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : oh xD well have fun studying then xD _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Talk to you later (^__^)/~~~ _

❊ ❊ ❊

**_Bacon_ ** _ : wyd _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : (￣~￣;)ξ~ (((( ￣∇￣)_ξﾟ□ﾟ) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : the hell does that mean :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : I’m taking a dump (–__–;) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : TMI!!! _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : … Sorry (>__<) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : nah its all good xD I like how forward you are xD _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Aww ( ˘ ³˘)♥ _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : … _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : You there babe? _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Baekhyun? _

❊ ❊ ❊

**_Bacon_ ** _ : guess what!!!! _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : What? (°◇°) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : eunkai is real!!!! _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : NANI?!?!?!?! щ(ºДºщ) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : we were playing truth or dare :D _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : and during nini’s turn :D _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : minhee dared him to kiss a girl :D _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : n nini asked eunjin if he could kiss her :DDDD _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : No way _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : oh, and minhees also dating a sophomore :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Whoa (￣□￣;) _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : I mean, she’s really pretty, I’m sure she can get a nice guy. _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : arent you like jealous or sth :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : No, why would I be? _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : idk xD _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : i guess im the only single one in the group now :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : No you’re not (=__=) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : ? _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : i am :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : You’re not. _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : wtf dude im telling you im single :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : But you’ve got me babe (*^3^)/~☆ _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Or was this all a lie?! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : haha ur funny :DDDDD _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : I know ~(＾ｖ＾)~ _

❊ ❊ ❊

**_Bacon_ ** _ : are you coming back for the summer break at least? :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : We only get 1 month off… _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : wtf??? _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : The school year is a bit different here than there babe (^__^) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : gosh that sucks so bad _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : i wish i could visit you :( _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Please do. My bed’s big enough for both of us (–_^) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : oof :D _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : idk man, im not sure im ready to be violated by you :P _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : I’d only make sweet love to you babe ( ˘ ³˘) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : :D _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : does this work on girls? :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Nope. _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : But it works on you (♥ω♥ ) ~♪ _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : (^_^;) _

❊ ❊ ❊

**_Bacon_ ** _ : cant believe its been 2 years already >_< _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Yeah. You guys still hang out? _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : mm kinda...  _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : ever since eunjin broke up with jongin, its been awkward (~_~;) _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : He finally let you use his real name? LMAO _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Also, a total side note, but I’m so proud of you babe ＼(^o^)／ _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : You finally learned to use the real emojis! _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : XD _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : … _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : but yeah, its mostly just me n minhee or me n jongin _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : its like someone flipped a switch in him, hes a total asshole fuckboi these days _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : (๏д๏) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : minhees not speaking to him either… he tried to mess with her too ( ‾᷅⚰‾᷄ ) _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : What _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : The _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Actual _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Fuck _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : yep… its been all sort of crazy over here _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : i mean, hes not like a jerk _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : i mean he kinda is _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : He is. There’s no excuse for pulling one on Minhee. _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : i think hes just really confused _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : also i thought u guys were like bffs _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : We were. _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : It’s been hard to keep in touch with the 16-hour difference. _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : but were managing (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑ _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : ღ꒡ ᴈ꒡)♡⃛(꒡ε ꒡ღ _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : luv u too <3 _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Anyway. How’s Eunjin doing? _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : i actually am not that close to her anymore… _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : after the breakup last year, she just found a new social circle _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : i think she was just done with us _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : I’m sorry to hear that. _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : minhees still hanging out with her _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : she came to my birthday party too _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : so its not like were strangers or anything _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : And how are you doing, Baekhyun? _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : youre using my name _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : shits getting serious :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : And you’re using basic emojis again, you’re nervous. _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : hah _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : you know me well :D _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Of course I do (>__<) _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : well… lifes been the same for me _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : nothing much has happened _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : except obviously our friendship circle shattered _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : minhee spends most of her time with her boyfriend _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : jongin stands me up if it means he can get an easy hookup _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : so yeah.... _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Do you want to talk about it? _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : um arent we talking already? lol _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : I mean like a video call. _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : oh _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates will come kind of sporadically. I've got a lot of things going on in my life and a few other stories I'm working on at the same time, so yeah. Maybe once a week, maybe once every few weeks, not sure yet. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @victorrotto - I sometimes post updates on things I'm working on there. Any feedback is much appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

Baekhyun doesn’t know what to expect. It’s been 2 years since he’s last seen Sehun’s face. Sehun uses Facebook just for the Messenger, it seems, and he never sends Baekhyun any selfies.

So nothing really could’ve prepared Baekhyun for the shock of seeing how Sehun’s grown. The shapes are all there, but his face is sharper, his eyes deeper, his lips fuller, his nose sharper. As his mother would say, he aged like really fine wine.

And it’s only been two years. Baekhyun, on the other hand, looks exactly the same. He’s grown by exactly half an inch. Yeah.

“Hey.”

Even his voice is so much deeper.

“Um, hi,” Baekhyun says, clearing his throat. “Well, this is weird.”

“Is it?” Sehun smiles.

Baekhyun suppresses a blush. He will _not_ blush today, okay. “How are things?”

“It’s been alright,” Sehun shrugs. “Was just about to go to bed. Were you sleeping?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun laughs sheepishly, trying to fix the mess of hair on his head. “I literally woke up like fifteen minutes ago. Still in bed, actually.”

“I can see,” Sehun laughs through the phone screen. “I can’t believe we never called each other before.”

“It’s crazy, right?” Baekhyun agrees. “Well, how have you been? How’s Korea?”

“I mean, nothing much has changed,” Sehun says. The phone camera moves around wildly for a few seconds before landing on Sehun’s face again—this time also lying down on his bed. “The school work here is just crazy, man. Did I tell you about those extra classes I have to take this year?”

“Yeah, I think you mentioned, like, evening classes two weeks ago,” Baekhyun nods.

“So I went to that yesterday night, and I almost died,” Sehun complains. “How do the other kids here even focus that late at night? Thank god it’s Saturday!”

“So what did you do today?” Baekhyun asks. “Did you play League?”

“Hell no,” Sehun laughs. “I’m like a bronze here. It’s not even funny how everyone in solo queue tries to play like pros. Matches are so fucking boring man! I started playing PUBG instead, actually.”

“Really?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “I have that game too, actually! We should play some time!”

“We totally should,” Sehun agrees. “Anyway, today I just… you know, went to the gym, had some street food, hung out in Itaewon for a bit. For all the craziness around studying, Koreans know how to have fun, you know.”

“I don’t, I’ve never been, actually,” Baekhyun confesses. “I, like, can’t even read Hangul.”

“No way!” Sehun exclaims. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun confirms with a thin smile.

“Well, maybe I could teach you!” Sehun offers with a laugh.

“Totally!” Baekhyun nods a little too enthusiastically.

“Anyway, we were talking about your group,” Sehun says slowly. “Did things really get that bad? I haven’t talked to Jongin in like two months, but even then, he didn’t mention any problems at all.”

“It’s been tough, honestly,” Baekhyun confesses. “They like, didn’t even acknowledge that something’s changed for a few weeks. It was so awkward for me and Minhee to be around them. Then, they got into this huge fight in public, and ever since then they haven’t spoken to each other. That was four months ago.”

“That long?” Sehun gasps. “You didn’t say anything, either! And we’ve been chatting like every week!”

“Yeah, sorry,” Baekhyun smiles weakly. “I just… there wasn’t a good time to bring it up.”

“No, I get it,” Sehun shakes his head. “It must be still tough for you guys to navigate through that. How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine,” Baekhyun reassures him. But he’s not, really. The only times he feels fine—or even better than fine, actually—is when he’s on the phone, chatting with Sehun.

“If I were there, I’d give you the tightest hug ever,” Sehun says with a smile.

“Thanks,” Baekhyun smiles.

“You’re welcome, _babe_ ,” Sehun winks at him.

Baekhyun’s face immediately turns four shades redder. Receiving flirtatious messages from your crush is a totally different experience from actually hearing him say it out loud. Baekhyun’s almost forgotten how touchy feely Sehun could get, and now, to experience that from this _upgraded_ version of Sehun takes it to a whole new level.

“Um, so how’s your life been going?” Baekhyun tries to change the topic. “You never talk about your daily life over there. Any good friends?”

_Or girlfriends?_

Sehun thinks about the question for a while. “Well, I do have a few close friends. But I think the mentality here is just different. I just… I don’t understand them sometimes. And don’t even get me started on the girls. They’re just crazy.”

“So, have you, like, dated anyone?” Baekhyun asks, holding his breath.

“I wouldn’t cheat on you, babe,” Sehun laughs, sending him an air kiss, and Baekhyun swears he’s having a heart attack.

“Haha,” Baekhyun tries to force a laugh.

“No, to be serious, I haven’t dated anyone since Laura,” Sehun shakes his head, his cheerful expression slowly dissipating. “It’s been… hard. She’s such a sweetheart. She didn’t take it well.”

“We haven’t heard from her,” Baekhyun mutters. “Jongin tried to text her, but she didn’t reply.”

“I didn’t think she would,” Sehun says. “She didn’t reply to my texts, either. You know, Baekhyun, it’s kind of funny. You’re legit probably the only guy from Cali that I’m still in contact with.”

“Really?” Baekhyun blinks, his cheeks heating up even more. “That’s… unexpected.”

“As they say, you never know who your true friends are, am I right?” Sehun laughs. “But, I just want to say, I really appreciate you for still keeping in touch. Would it be weird if I said I look forward to our weekend chats?”

“No, not at all,” Baekhyun shakes his head quickly. “Same here.”

“That’s good to hear,” Sehun grins. “By the way, what are you doing today?”

“Me?” Baekhyun takes a deep breath. “Hm, I don’t know. Just being lazy. Why?”

“Wanna go on a PUBG date?” Sehun winks at him.

Baekhyun immediately springs up to his feet. “Yeah, sure. Discord?”

“Let’s move this there,” Sehun agrees with a grin.

❊ ❊ ❊

“Whoa there,” Minhee gasps when Baekhyun recounts his weekend to her. “You _talked_ to Sehun?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods.

“Well how is he?” she asks immediately. “Is he hot? I bet he’s hot. The moment I laid my eyes on him, I knew he’d grow up to be an eye candy!”

Baekhyun pulls out his phone and opens up his IG. “Here.”

“Shit,” Minhee exclaims, her jaw dropping. “Motherfucker has IG and doesn’t even let us know? Wait, lemme follow him. And damn, he’s _hot_.”

“He’s also very kind, funny, and really empathetic,” he says.

“You’re so cute, pretty boy,” she coos. “I can’t believe you’re still so hopelessly in love after 2 years of not even seeing him. That’s like some next level shit.”

“You worry about your own love life,” Baekhyun scoffs. “By the way, I saw Sandra’s story from last night. Jeffrey was at her party. I thought you said you weren’t going.”

Minhee blinks. “Well, yeah, _I_ didn’t go. I wasn’t feeling it. That doesn’t mean my boyfriend can’t go and have some fun without me.”

“Really?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine,” Minhee rolls her eyes. “Fucking asshole went without telling me. And yes, I saw the story too. I’m dealing with it.”

Baekhyun stops in his tracks and points to the back of the hallway. “And that’s the result of you ‘dealing with it?’”

Minhee’s gaze follows the direction of Baekhyun’s finger until she sees Jeffrey leaning back against his locker with Amanda getting quite _personal_ with his pants.

“Motherfucker,” Minhee curses, her teeth gritting to the point where Baekhyun can see her temple vein pop out. “He is _so_ dead.”

She grabs Baekhyun’s arm and drags him along. People instinctively move out of their way with audible gasps when they see the sheer fury on her face.

“Well, hello, there,” Minhee says icily as soon as they’re in hearing range.

Amanda immediately jerks away from Jeffrey, who immediately turns pale.

“Um, hi, bae, this is not what—”

“Really?” Minhee scoffs, crossing her arms. “Well, I’m sure her hand was just checking out the _quality_ of your zipper right now.”

The entire hallway goes silent as everybody stops to watch the spectacle. Baekhyun wants nothing more than to just hide away and wait for everything to be over, but he can’t just leave Minhee to deal with this alone.

“Listen, you—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Minhee snarls. “You know what? You’re not fucking worth my time. Yeah. Go ahead and make out, why don’t you? See if I care!”

She then turns to Amanda. “And you. If I see you at team practice, I will fucking end you.”

With that, she turns on her heels and stomps off, Baekhyun in her tow. The crowd stares at them, but they immediately look away when Minhee glares at them.

They don’t talk about it. Baekhyun’s worried for his friend; even though she’s not showing it, he knows that the sudden turn of events must really bother her. But whenever he tries to breach the topic, Minhee just expertly diverts the conversation to a different direction.

It seems like the news of the public break up has spread everywhere by second period, because as soon as Jongin sits down next to Baekhyun, he immediately asks about it.

“So she just dumped him?” the jock asks as he pulls out his US History textbook from his backpack. “In front of the lockers?”

“Pretty much,” Baekhyun shrugs.

“Damn,” Jongin whistles. “Girl’s got balls!”

Baekhyun turns to face his friend. “Dude, I’m really worried about her.”

“Why?” Jongin scoffs. “Minhee’s always been the strongest of us. You think she’s gonna break down over a guy?”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “You already forgot about what you did to her?”

Jongin scratches his head. “Ah, yeah. Right. Um, do you think I should talk to her? She still hasn’t accepted my apology for that.”

“Of course she hasn’t,” Baekhyun snorts. “Two of her best friends that _she_ got together break up, and one of them wants to cut off all of their mutual friends while the other immediately tries to hook up with her.”

“When you put it that way,” Jongin mutters. “I just… whatever, I’ll still talk to her. Let her know that I’m still here for her if she needs to talk and stuff.” After a brief pause, he continues. “But you know that I didn’t really mean it, right?”

“Mean what?”

“About… whatever. Let’s not talk about it.”

“About _what_?”

“ _Nothing_.”

They fall into awkward silence again for a few moments, before Jongin speaks up. Dude’s got a lot to say today, it seems.

“So, what about you?”

Baekhyun frowns. “What about me?” he repeats.

“You know, you and girls,” Jongin whispers. “It’s like all of us are going through shit and you’re still… you know, _single_.”

“You’re going through shit?” Baekhyun laughs. “ _Please_. I hear all about your hook-ups behind the bleachers. Also, is there anything wrong with being single?”

“No,” Jongin shakes his head quickly. “I mean, it’s just surprising that you of all people are still single.”

“Now what’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Baekhuyn grimaces.

“I mean, totally no homo, but you’re really cute,” Jongin says slowly.

Baekhyun gags. “Oh, please, _stop_.”

“I mean it!” Jongin adds. “I just thought that girls would be all over you!”

“First of all, they aren’t,” Baekhyun states flatly. “Second of all, I have, like, no interest in g—dating.”

That one was close.

“Shame,” Jongin shrugs. “You know, Amanda Cortez wouldn’t put out last week. Said she’s saving her virginity for a nice guy. Am I not nice? Anyway, after she sucked me off, she suddenly started talking about how much she loves to listen to you sing. That was weird as fuck.”

“Ew!” Baekhyun’s face sours. “That’s way too much info, dude. I didn’t want to—wait, did you say Cortez? The sophomore cheerleader?”

“Yep,” Jongin nods. “She gives terrible head, by the way. Just save yourself the pain.”

“Jeffrey cheated on Minhee with her,” Baekhyun tells him.

“Yeah, I know,” Jongin grins. “Isn’t that crazy? I thought she said she wanted a _nice_ guy, not an asshole basketball player.”

Baekhyun’s gears are spinning. Surely, it’s all just a coincidence, right?

❊ ❊ ❊

“How are you, babe?” Sehun asks him.

“Tired,” Baekhyun whines as he pulls the blanket over his body. They’ve been FaceTiming for over a month now, and Baekhyun’s finally gotten somewhat used to Sehun’s _innocent_ flirting. “I just want to go to bed and wake up at graduation.”

“Don’t say that,” Sehun tells him. “Junior year’s the most fun.”

“And you know that because…?”

“I saw it in a documentary!” Sehun grins. “Scientifically proven facts!”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun snorts. “Man, tell me about your school day.”

“You want to hear stories about studying from 7 AM to 8 PM?” Sehun laughs.

“Maybe,” Baekhyun shrugs. “If it’s as boring as it sounds, maybe it’ll put me to sleep.”

“You want to fall asleep to my voice?” Sehun wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“You have a sexy voice,” Baekhyun mutters, a small blush creeping in his cheeks.

“Wait, are you blushing?” Sehun laughs, and Baekhyun curses under his breath. He totally forgot the camera’s still on his face.

“No, just hot,” he lies, hoping Sehun will drop the topic fast.

“You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed,” Sehun says before pulling the phone closer to himself so Baekhyun can only see Sehun’s lips and nostrils. “You want to fall asleep to this?”

His voice drops down three octaves and becomes hoarse and so fucking sensual, it sends jolts to all the wrong places in Baekhyun’s body.

“Stop!” Baekhyun groans.

Sehun cackles. “You don’t like it?”

“Why are you so mean to me?” Baekhyun pouts.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Sehun continues to laugh. “You want to hear boring shit in a monotone voice? Alright. Let me tell you about our first period, which is physics. Now, you must be wondering, what idiot would make kids take physics first thing in the morning? But that’s the reality of my life. So, the teacher usually just comes in and he’s got this really monotone voice, and….”

Baekhyun doesn’t know when he nods off, but that night, he dreams of very pleasant things.


	4. Chapter 4

“So,” Minhee says as soon as Baekhyun gets out of his new Honda Civic, “I need to tell you something.”

“Why do you sound so serious?” Baekhyun asks as he locks up. “And why can’t it wait until after I have my taro milk tea in my hands?”

“You’re grabbing onto your car door, right?” Minhee asks, ignoring Baekhyun’s questions completely. “Okay. Here it comes.”

Baekhyun unwittingly grabs the car door handle firmer.

“I may or may not have slept with Jongin yesterday night.”

“....”

“Baekhyun?”

“What?”

“Um, are you, like, not gonna react to what I just said?”

“I did react.”

“With silence?”

“Yeah.”

Minhee lets out a groan. “What the hell, dude? I just told you like the biggest secret ever!”

“It’s not really a secret if it happened last night and you’re telling me today at 10 AM,” Baekhyun points out. “Besides, Jongin texted me if I was coming over.”

“He did?” Minhee blinks.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun shrugs. “I put two and two together. Wished him good luck.”

“WHAT?” Minhee exclaims.

Baekhyun sighs. “Minhee, I’m sorry to break it to you, but ever since you started talking to Jongin again before Thanksgiving, you haven’t been very subtle about trying to get into his pants.”

Minhee’s face turns bright pink and her jaw drops. “But—”

“Can we talk about this  _ after _ we order?” Baekhyun says.

Minhee sighs. “Fine.”

Ten minutes and a large taro milk tea with red beans in front of him later, Baekhyun finally lets his curiosity take over.

“So you told your parents what exactly? That you’re studying?”

“They weren’t home.”

“When he arrived, did you just immediately jump on him or—?”

“Eww, no! I have some dignity.”

“You literally invited a boy over while your parents were away.”

“Touché.”

“Is he as good as he claims to be?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“No, not really.”

“Good.”

Baekhyun takes a deep sip before speaking up again. “But I bet his sex face are—”

“ _ Baekhyun _ .”

“What?” Baekhyun exclaims. “I’m curious is all!”

“Don’t you have another sexy boy to obsess over?”

“ _ No _ ,” Baekhyun huffs. “We’re just… friends.”

“Friends who FaceTime each other every weekend almost religiously?” Minhee gags.

“ _ Good _ friends,” Baekhyun retorts before sighing. “That’s all we can be, really. He’s straight.”

“About that,” Minhee says as she sips on her own mango tea with rainbow pearls, “are you absolutely sure he’s not gay? Or at least bi-curious?”

“Why?” Baekhyun frowns.

“I don’t know,” Minhee shrugs. “He just… doesn’t act like most straight guys I know.”

“You mean, he’s not trying to fuck every vagina he sees?” Baekhyun snorts. “By the way, what are you two now? Like fuck buddies, exclusive, or?”

“I don’t know, actually,” Minhee mutters. “We didn’t exactly talk about it. After we… did the  _ deed _ , he hung out for a while, but then he had to go home, and we haven’t talked since.”

“You don’t think he just….”

“Whatever,” Minhee shakes her head. “It’s not like we invested any feelings in it anyway. I wanted sex, he wanted sex, problem solved. Right?”

❊ ❊ ❊

Well, it turns out that at least one of them didn’t see it that way. By the beginning of spring break, Minhee and Jongin finally make it official that they’re exclusive. Baekhyun feels happy for them, he truly does, but now, more than ever, he really starts feeling like a third wheel.

And so, much to everyone’s surprise, Baekhyun finds himself a “new” hang out buddy.

“I don’t care that they’re dating,” Eunjin shrugs, though her tone suggests otherwise. “If it works out for Min, that’s great. Maybe they fit each other better.”

“You sound kind of pissed, though,” Baekhyun points out before he can stop himself.

Eunjin throws him an angry glare before letting out a resigned chuckle. “You always were the most perceptive, Baekhyun. Yeah, I guess I’m not totally over Jongin yet.”

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun mutters. “I never imagined the four of us would end up like this.”

“Friendships don’t last forever,” Eunjin says. “But what about you? How are you handling things?”

“What things?” Baekhyun frowns.

“Okay, so this is totally just me, but I always thought that you and Minhee would eventually get together,” Eunjin confesses. When she sees the disturbed expression on Baekhyun’s face, she adds, “Am I totally off?”

“Totally,” Baekhyun nods quickly. “I mean, Minhee and I are really close friends. But no, I’d never date her.”

“Really?” Eunjin bites her lip. “Okay. Sorry for making assumptions.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Baekhyun quickly shakes his head. “There’s something I should probably tell you. I think you deserve to know.”

Eunjin immediately perks up, putting down her phone. “I’m all ears.”

“Well, there’s a reason Minhee and I can’t be together,” Baekhyun starts, trying to gauge his words carefully. “I mean, she’s a very pretty girl, and our personalities match really well. She’s like my soulmate or whatever. But, I can’t date her, because… what I’m trying to say is… there’s someone else.”

Eunjin’s eyes widen. “Please don’t tell me you’ve been harboring a crush on me.”

“What?” Baekhyun blinks.

“No?” Eunjin sighs in relief. “Good. I don’t think I could handle that amount of makjang.”

“What I’m trying to say is, I’m attracted to someone else, and I’m not attracted to Minhee at all,” Baekhyun continues. Why is this so hard? How the hell did he come out to Minhee all those years ago?

“Is she a totally different vibe from Minhee?”

Okay, there’s his opening. “It’s not exactly a  _ she _ .”

Eunjin’s jaw drops to the floor. “You mean—oh my god, I am so dumb! I’m so sorry, Baekhyun, I should’ve realized  _ ages _ ago! It’s Sehun, isn’t it?”

Now it’s Baekhyun’s turn to be shocked. “Is—is it really that obvious?”

“I mean, you knew the guy for, what, three months, and you still keep in touch with him,” Eunjin says. “But man! Thanks so much for trusting me with this. I guess it’s not public knowledge?”

“Not exactly,” Baekhyun nods.

“I swear I’ll keep it to myself,” Eunjin says. “Now, tell me  _ everything _ .”

❊ ❊ ❊

They somehow make it work. Minhee and Jongin try to be as considerate as possible when they hang out together and mostly keep their PDA to the minimum while Baekhyun’s with them. At first, it made Baekhyun even more uncomfortable, as he could tell that they were forcing themselves to be less “hands-on” around him, but after a few months, he just stopped caring.

Slowly but surely, Eunjin starts hanging out with them as well. At first, she’d only talk to Baekhyun, but by the time summer rolls over, Eunjin and Minhee are back to being besties, and sometimes she’d even snicker at some of Jongin’s dumb jokes.

Over the months, Baekhyun’s calls with Sehun solidifies even more. They now have a dedicated time each Saturday and Sunday to just hang out. Sometimes, they play games, other times they chat about all the stupid things happening in their lives. Sometimes, they just leave the call on without saying anything. And during all that time, Baekhyun can’t shake off what Minhee’s told him.  _ What if Sehun’s not completely straight? _

But no matter how curious he is, Baekhyun just can’t bring himself to ask the question. Or any question on the matter, in fact. It’s not well until the last week of August, just before Baekhyun’s about to start his senior year, that Sehun himself brings up their love lives.

“Anything new happening on your end?” Sehun asks, munching on some honey butter chips.

“No, not really,” Baekhyun mutters. “Just really stressed out about college applications.”

“Nini said he’s not planning on going to college,” Sehun says. “He wants to open a dance studio or something.”

“I thought you guys don’t talk anymore,” Baekhyun says.

“We do, just very rarely,” Sehun shrugs. “We chatted for like twenty minutes the other day. After like half a year of radio silence.”

“Oh, I see,” Baekhyun mutters. “What about you? You never told me anything about what schools you’re applying to.”

“Actually, I’m also not going,” Sehun says. “Um, so, I haven’t told this to anyone, because it’s not official or anything, but… I think I’m going to pursue acting.”

“Acting?” Baekhyun blinks. “Like K-dramas and shit?”

“Yeah,” Sehun laughs. “I… I got cast. I think.”

“You  _ think _ ?” Baekhyun repeats. “What does that even mean?”

“Remember when I told you about the company dinner my parents got me to attend?” Sehun starts. “Apparently, one of the executives’ wives is a big-name writer. I talked to her briefly, and she said she wanted me to be in her new drama.”

“Don’t you have to audition and stuff?” Baekhyun frowns.

“Yeah,” Sehun nods. “I went to the audition. Two weeks ago. I got a call yesterday from the writer and she told me that I passed.”

“What? Two weeks ago? But you didn’t say anything!”

“I didn’t want to jinx it in case it didn’t work out,” Sehun says sheepishly. “Anyway, yeah. It’s a romance drama. I’m playing Park Min Young’s younger brother.”

“Dude!” Baekhyun exclaims. “You’re so lucky! She’s so pretty!”

“Not as pretty as you,” Sehun smirks, and Baekhyun’s face immediately reddens.

“I hate you,” Baekhyun mutters. “Why does everyone keep calling me pretty?”

“Because you are,” Sehun laughs. “No homo, though.”

Baekhyun’s expression stiffens. He lets out a forced laugh. “I thought we were a thing, haha.”

“Oh, yeah, we are,” Sehun nods. “But not for long. If I become famous, my fans won’t let me date anyone!”

“Unless it’s a guy,” Baekhyun blurts out and immediately adds, “You know, for all the bromance shit.”

“Actually,” Sehun says, “I haven’t seen the script or anything, but they heavily implied at the audition that my character would have a lot of bromance with Lee Jong Suk.”

“I see,” Baekhyun mutters. “And you don’t mind it?”

“What, are you jealous?” Sehun laughs. “Don’t worry,  _ Baekhyunnie _ , it’s just acting. I only have my eyes for you.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet,” Baekhyun coos in an attempt to hide the blush creeping onto his cheeks again.

“I just realized we never talk about girls,” Sehun says suddenly. “Like real talk. Are you dating someone?”

“No,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “You?”

“Not at the moment,” Sehun replies. “And not for long if this acting thing works out, probably. It’s easier to be popular when you’re single over here.”

“Right,” Baekhyun mutters. “Cuz of the fangirls and stuff. Right. But, like, are you interested in seeing someone?”

“No, not at the moment,” Sehun shakes his head. “There are a few really pretty girls at our school, but they’re all so weird. I don’t think I could handle it.”

“Oh.”

So he  _ is _ straight. End of story.

“What about you?” Sehun asks. “You never talk about girls. Anybody you’re interested in seeing?”

“Me?” Baekhyun laughs awkwardly. “Um… actually… yes, there is.”

“Really?” Sehun’s eyes widen. “Who is it? I mean, if you don’t mind telling me. It’s cool if you don’t want to.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “I… uh, is it okay if we talk about this next time? Haha, we’ve been talking for two hours already! I need to, uh, go see Minhee.”

“Noooo!” Sehun groans. “Now you’ve piqued my interest, you can’t just leave me hanging!”

“I promise I’ll tell you next time,” Baekhyun says.

Sehun sighs. “Alright. I guess I can wait. But you better tell me!”

“I will,” Baekhyun smiles weakly. “Anyway, I gotta go now. Talk to you later!”

“Later!”

As Baekhyun ends the call on his phone, he wonders just for how long he can avoid Sehun before the latter calls him out for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, thanks everyone for the kudos & lovely comments! I really appreciate you for taking your time to read through this silly story :x If you have any questions, do feel free to ask them! As you may have notice, I do a lot of time skips - the main "portion" of the story will take during the summer after Baekhyun's graduation, so I'm hoping to get there within the next 2 chapters so I can finally kick things off. I'm not exactly sure how often I'll update, but I will try to update as often as I can. Thanks for tuning in~


	5. Chapter 5

“Look,” Minhee says as she shoves her phone into Baekhyun’s hand. “They literally just released the first trailer and Sehun’s already got thirty thousand followers, what the fuck.”

“Mm,” Baekhyun mutters. He knows already, of course. He’s been stalking the hell out of Sehun’s IG for the past month and half, after all.

“I can’t believe my childhood best friend is a celebrity,” Jongin says from the driver’s seat. “Maybe I should move to Korea, too?”

“And do what, exactly?” Eunjin snorts. “Fuck yourself to fame?”

“Jeez, can’t you let the man dream?” Jongin groans.

“Eunjin has a very valid point, though,” Minhee says.

“You two are so mean to me,” Jongin pouts. “Baekhyun, defend me!”

“Can I suck your dick if I do?” Baekhyun asks innocently, immediately earning him air high fives from both of the girls in the back seat and an exasperated sigh from the driver himself.

Overall, things have pretty much returned to the old tracks. The four of them are, once again, inseparable. Baekhyun now actually enjoys the company of Jongin and Eunjin a lot more than back in the day, now that Jongin’s less of an idiot and Eunjin finally relaxed now that she’s moved past her crush on Jongin. They all commute to school together again, only now Jongin drives them in his imported BMW that he got for his 17th birthday.

A few weeks ago, Baekhyun also finally came out to Jongin. Though annoyed that he was the last one in the group to find out (“ _ You told Minhee in middle school?! _ ”), he was a lot more concerned about whether or not he'd irreparably broken Baekhyun’s heart. Despite getting multiple assurances that he, in fact, hasn’t, Jongin’s still kind of jumpy around the subject, and Baekhyun can’t help but exploit it for a laugh or two every now and then.

The one major thing that’s been a big let down is Sehun. While it was to be expected, Baekhyun can’t help but feel that it’s his fault that their weekly chats have been reduced to text messages scattered across days.

At first, Baekhyun avoided Sehun. He’d make up silly excuses for why he couldn’t talk (“ _ Oh, look, my mom wants me to drive her to Trader Joe’s, I’ll call you when I get home, okay? _ ”). Then, after three weeks of that, Sehun himself stopped writing. At first, Baekhyun thought that maybe he’s hurt Sehun by breaking that silly promise, but then Sehun messaged him that between school work, taking acting classes, and filming for the new drama, he just doesn’t have any spare time, and now Baekhyun really regrets chickening out and not telling Sehun  _ everything _ .

Because now he probably won’t get another chance.

“I totally should’ve tried harder in freshman year to get into Sehun’s pants,” Minhee says when Baekhyun returns her phone. “I could be like, ha, you fools, your girl’s fucked the hottest up-and-coming actor in Korea!”

“I’m literally sitting right here,” Jongin says.

“Well, so is Eunjin, do you see me complaining?” Minhee retorts.

“So is Baekhyun, though,” Eunjin points out.

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun laughs. “We actually had a small competition going on back then.”

“Really?” Jongin perks up. “Like you guys were competing who’d fuck Sehun first? Damn. Did anyone ever compete over me?”

“You were the consolation prize, my dude,” Eunjin laughs.

“You guys keep hurting my emotions,” Jongin sobs. “Baekhyun, make them stop!”

“Are you willing to pay?” Baekhyun asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

They laugh and poke fun at Jongin’s expense for the rest of the ride on the 101. It feels so right for the four of them to be hanging out together again. For the first time in a long time, Baekhyun feels just a bit better again.

❊ ❊ ❊

But, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and their “squad” is no different.

“Congratulations, Eunjin!” Minhee squeals and gives her best friend the tightest hug ever.

“T-thanks,” Eunjin manages to get out before forcibly shoving Minhee off of herself.

“Where exactly is Cornell?” Jongin muses.

“New York,” Baekhyun replies absentmindedly. “You’re so lucky to get an early admittance.”

“And a full ride,” Minhee adds quickly. “I am, like,  _ so _ jealous of you right now. I have to wait all the way till April for Berkeley decisions to come out.”

Jongin crosses his arms. “I think college is overrated.”

“I think your face is overrated,” Eunjin laughs.

“What are you talking about, Jongin is like the cutest ever,” Baekhyun defends his friend, which immediately earns him a bro hug from the man in question. Baekhyun doesn’t even feel shameless anymore for leaning back into it.

“Get a room, you two,” Minhee rolls her eyes. “And two seats in the front row, we want to watch.”

“You know I wouldn’t cheat on you,” Jongin pouts, which earns him a playful smack on the shoulder from a very satisfied-looking Minhee.

But despite them all putting on a light-hearted facade, Baekhyun can tell that they’re all thinking the same thing. In half a year, they’re all going parting ways. Eunjin’s first choice has always been Cornell, so now that she got accepted  _ and _ four scholarships, she’s very unlikely to change her decision. Minhee’s not going  _ too _ far away, but Berkeley is still like an hour by car. Jongin’s still figuring out how to break it to his parents that he has, in fact, not applied to any college at all, and Baekhyun—well, Baekhyun’s applied to only 3 schools, but he doubts his application is strong enough for either Berkeley or Stanford.

But Calstate isn’t too bad, right?

“I’m starving,” Jongin says after several moments of awkward silence. “Who wants to go to Gen?”

“Sorry, I’m dieting,” Eunjin smiles apologetically. “I’ll take a rain check. But you guys have fun without me!”

“Um, I actually also have things to do today,” Minhee says. “Sorry.”

Jongin looks positively deflated. He looks at Baekhyun with big puppy eyes. “Please don’t make me go there alone.”

Baekhyun lets out a resigned sigh. “Fine. Let’s go eat.”

❊ ❊ ❊

“I think something’s up with Minhee,” Jongin tells Baekhyun as soon as they get into Jongin’s car.

“Hmm, really?” Baekhyun mutters as he bites his lower lip. He should’ve known this was coming.

“You don’t see it?” Jongin asks him.

“That depends on what  _ it _ is,” Baekhyun replies noncommittally.

“So something is up.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

They drive for the next few minutes in silence. Baekhyun’s not sure how to handle this situation. Of course, he’s also noticed that ever since Homecoming, Minhee’s been slightly  _ off _ around Jongin. But he just thought that they were going through a rough patch, like every other couple does.

Maybe he was wrong.

Jongin soon breaks the silence with some story from a dance competition he participated in over the weekend, and it’s not until they order chadol and samgyupsal (after a near fifty-minute wait in the line) that Jongin brings up the topic again.

“I just don’t know what to think of it,” Jongin says as nibbles on the dish of sweet mashed potatoes while Baekhyun starts grilling the meat. “She’s just… distant lately. Distracted. Way too friendly.”

“Isn’t friendly good?” Baekhyun asks as he drops a few pieces of the delicious brisket onto Jongin’s plate.

“I mean like friendzone friendly,” Jongin clarifies. “She just… I don’t know. I feel like we’re going backwards. To before… Eunjin. You know.”

Baekhyun takes a bite of his quickly put together wrap. “Have you talked to her?”

“No,” Jongin shakes his head. “Have you?”

“Sorry, man,” Baekhyun smiles weakly. “She doesn’t talk about you with me.”

“She doesn’t?” Jongin raises an eyebrow.

Baekhyun immediately realizes how that probably came out. “I mean, I had to tell her to stop. She wouldn’t shut up about how good your stamina is. Among other things.”

Jongin immediately blushes red. “Uh. Yeah. Haha.”

“Are you embarrassed?” Baekhyun chuckles. “Dude! Not even a year ago, that’s all you’d talk about in front of me!”

“Well, it was different back then,” Jongin protests. “You were… well, you were still  _ you _ , but I didn’t know about… you know.”

Baekhyun blinks. “Is this the part where you tell me you’re uncomfortable around gays?”

“No, no, sorry, shit,” Jongin shakes his head quickly. “No, I don’t mean that at all! No, I just… it’s just different. I have nothing against anyone. It’s none of my business. It’s just… I don’t know what I can or can’t say in front of you. I don’t know anyone else like you.”

“Listen,” Baekhyun says, putting down his chopsticks. “I understand where you’re coming from. But I have to tell you, what you’re saying right now is a little bit offensive to me.”

“Shit,” Jongin grimaces. “I’m so sorry. See, I just—”

“ _ Listen _ ,” Baekhyun repeats.

Jongin gulps. “Okay.”

“No matter what my sexual orientation is, I am still Baekhyun,” Baekhyun says after taking a deep breath. “I am still me. The same me you’ve known for years. My sexuality is an important part of me, but it doesn’t change who I am. Keep it in your mind, but just act like you always do. Nothing’s changed between us just because I told you that I’m gay. Cool?”

Jongin nods fervently. “Uh, yeah. I’ll… I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

Baekhyun goes back to flipping the pork belly.

“So did she ever mention my size?”

Baekhyun drops his tongs. “Okay, you know what, never mind. Go back to being awkward. I think I like it better.”

❊ ❊ ❊

“Baekhyun, don’t be silly,” Minhee scolds him. “You’re going to prom.”

“No, I’m not,” Baekhyun groans.

Minhee rolls her eyes. “Guys, tell him that he’s going to prom.”

“You’re going to prom,” Jongin and Eunjin say in unison.

“I’m not,” Baekhyun argues.

“One second,” Jongin clears his throat.

_ Ten _ seconds later, Baekhyun’s phone buzzes. Confused, Baekhyun unlocks it and his heart almost drops.

**_Sehun_ ** _ : You’re going to prom, sweetie（；¬＿¬) _

“JONGIN!” Baekhyun exclaims as he jolts on his feet.

“What did you do?” Minhee asks.

“I texted Sehun,” Jongin smirks smugly.

“I hate you guys,” Baekhyun mutters. “I  _ can’t _ go. I don’t have a date.”

“Then get one.”

“I don’t want to go with a girl.”

“Then go with a guy.”

“I am  _ not _ coming out publicly.”

“Then don’t.”

“HOW DO I GO TO PROM WITH A GUY AND NOT COME OUT PUBLICLY AT THE SAME TIME?!”

That seems to take a few seconds for his three friends to process.

“Hmm, how about you go with Jongin?” Minhee suggests, clapping her hands together.

“ _ What?! _ ” Jongin and Baekhyun exclaim together.

“No, think about it,” Minhee continues. “No one at school questions Jongin’s heterosexuality. Like,  _ no one _ .”

“Not even Ms. Presley in English,” Eunjin snickers.

“You’ve been—wait, eww, no, I don’t want to imagine!”

“I haven’t!” Jongin protests, outraged. “I have standards!”

“Anyway,” Minhee continues, “if you and Jongin go together, nobody will question it. Everyone will be like, oh, they’re just best friends going to prom together. And then Eunjin and I can also go together. Problem solved!”

“Except,” Baekhyun says, “since you two are together, that basically means I’m going with Eunjin.”

“Am I supposed to be offended right now?” Eunjin muses.

“Yes,” Baekhyun nods. “I’m a sexist prick. Also, you deserve to go out with a cute boy. Didn’t Gabriel ask you to prom on Monday?”

“I haven’t answered yet,” Eunjin shrugs.

“Come on, Baekhyun, what could  _ possibly  _ go wrong?”

Baekhyun really,  _ really _ doesn’t want to believe in jinxing things right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This quarantine is doing things to me. I've written more this week that I've written in MONTHS before that. Well, I do hope you enjoy~ Please leave kudos and comments if you do! Next chapter's all about the prom night. Oh boy.


	6. Chapter 6

“Holy shit, you look stunning,” Jongin gasps when Baekhyun appears in the doorway. “No homo, though.”

“Gee, thanks,” Baekhyun laughs, biting his lip. It’s the first time he tried to put on makeup. He thought long and hard about it, but it just didn’t feel right to go out pretending to be a totally straight dude on a bro-date. So he enlisted his mother’s help, who, surprisingly, didn’t question a single thing. Then again, she’s the biggest Jaejoong fangirl Baekhyun knows, so maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised by her eagerness to put eyeliner on her own son.

Jongin has outdone himself as well. He’s wearing a black form-fitting suit with a black shirt underneath, folded in a way that gives the illusion of him wearing a black tie as well. His usually messy morning hair is styled into a neat modern quiff, which further accentuates his thick eyebrows and makes him look more mature, more  _ predatory _ .

Wait, what the hell is he thinking?

“Well, shall we go?” Jongin asks with that signature smirk of his and Baekhyun has to remind himself that this is a totally just a bro-date.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Baekhyun nods.

By the time they get to Eunjin’s house, the girls are already taking pictures together posing in front of every lawn decoration. Minhee opted for a very stylish Hepburn-like black dress. Her hair is flowing loose and her make-up quite a bit thicker than usual. She’s definitely going for the “I am here to party” vibe. Eunjin, on the other hand, is sporting a traditional pink and white hanbok with a purple ribbon. Her hair is neatly tied and held in place with a jade hairpin Baekhyun immediately recognizes as the gift from her late grandmother for her thirteenth birthday.

“Baekhyun!” Minhee squeals the moment they get out of the car. “Oh my gosh! You look so pretty! I need pictures! NOW!”

“Hi, too,” Jongin grumbles before walking over to Eunjin and giving her a hug.

“We look so good, guys,” Minhee coos. “Come on. PICTURES!”

They spend the next half-hour taking pictures in every pose imaginable around the neighborhood. After that, they drive to Japantown for a “quick” bite (“ _ Just two more rolls, guys. Please. _ ”), and finally, at 7 PM, they make their way to the dance.

And that’s around when all hell breaks loose.

It starts innocently enough. Half an hour into the dancing, Jeffrey, Minhee’s old boyfriend, comes over to chat her up and apologize. That wouldn’t necessarily be an issue, except Minhee seems to have forgotten about her own boyfriend being ten feet away and keeps talking to him with a huge grin on her face.

“If I come over and make him leave, does it make me an asshole?” Jongin asks quietly. He pulls out a bottle from somewhere inside his pocket and takes a deep sip.

Baekhyun’s nose picks up the faint smell immediately.

“Dude, what the hell!” he hisses. “Is that  _ alcohol _ ?”

“Damn right,” Jongin grunts. “You want some?”

“No, thank you,” Baekhyun scoffs. He turns back to Minhee—who is now grabbing Jeffrey’s hand and pulling him to the dance floor.

Baekhyun looks around, trying to find the eye-catching colors of Eunjin’s hanbok, but she seems to have disappeared off somewhere.

“Uh, Jongin, do you want me to go talk to her or something?” Baekhyun offers.

“No, forget it,” Jongin waves his hand dismissively. “All this week, she’s been totally ignoring me. Always saying shit like, ‘oh my gosh, I need to find a perfect dress, leave me alone.’ Like what the hell, man?”

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun mutters.

“Whatever,” Jongin shakes his head. “Let’s just have fun, Baekhyunnie.”

Jongin drags Baekhyun to the opposite side of the dance floor. Jongin really is a good dancer. Baekhyun doesn’t understand how he manages to move so precisely and gracefully, and he’s kind of embarrassed to dance next to someone so good, but the way Jongin beckons him with those heavy-lidded eyes of his—does he even  _ know _ what effect that has on people?—makes him want to do nothing more than surrender to the moment.

Baekhyun honestly doesn’t know how long they’ve been dancing. With every song change, Jongin becomes a new person. The way he adapts his style, his expression,  _ himself _ according to the song playing is just unreal. Baekhyun knew that Jongin is a good dancer already, but he never realized it was to  _ this _ level. Baekhyun just decides to let loose and moves in rhythm with Jongin, not caring for a split second about how he must look compared to the dance prodigy.

Out of breath and laughing, the two of them stumble out of the dance floor after what must’ve been hours. Jongin’s face is now bright red, and Baekhyun wonders if he just danced that hard or if it’s the alcohol taking hold. Either way, they collapse into the seats on the far side of the room.

“Man, that was fun,” Baekhyun laughs.

“You’re a pretty good dancer,” Jongin grins, leaning in a little bit too close for Baekhyun’s comfort.

“Shut up,” Baekhyun smacks him playfully.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mr. Patel says as he steps to the podium. “May I have your attention? The time has finally come for me to announce your King and Queen!”

Excited cheers fill out the entire hall as everybody gets to their feet and heads closer to the podium.

“When I announce the names, please step forward to be crowned,” Mr. Patel continues. “Are you ready?”

A loud ‘yes’ resonates through the entire room and some of the folks start a drum roll.

“Okay, class of 2018, first of all, your prom king is… Jeffrey Miller!”

The crowd cheers as the ever-so-cocky football team captain prances onto the podium. There hasn’t really been a contest about that one.

“And, for your prom queen… the results are in, and it was a very, very close race, but you have spoken, and your queen is… Minhee Lim!”

“WHAT?!” Minhee exclaims with a genuinely shocked expression as the people around her start clapping excitedly and move out of her way.

Baekhyun sees from the corner of his eye how Jennifer Nguyen slams her punch cup on the table in anger.

Minhee, clearly still shocked about the unexpected result, steps onto the stage.

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, let’s give our new King and Queen a round of applause!”

Jongin’s grinning from ear to ear as he claps like a seal for his girlfriend. Baekhyun claps along, but for some reason is feeling rather anxious about the whole situation.

“First of all, I’d like to thank all of you for the votes,” Minhee says when it’s her turn to make her speech. “Like, I’m totally honest here, I was  _ not _ expecting this at all. This is so surreal, guys! A special shoutout to my friends, Baekhyun, Eunjin, and Jongin for always being there for me! I love you guys!”

Jongin’s expression hardens, but still manages to keep grinning and clapping.

“Okay, so, uh, thanks guys,” Jeffrey says. “I’d like to take this moment to say something though. I… I’m not a perfect guy. I messed up. Bad. Some of you probably still remember what happened last year.”

“Locker break up!” somebody yells from the back, and the entire room erupts into giggles.

“I apologized once today already, but I want to apologize again—Minhee, I am really, really sorry for what happened. I messed up really bad. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would. You’re honestly the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Jongin’s face falls, his hands freezing mid-air. Baekhyun keeps looking back and forth between him and a clearly flustered Minhee on stage.

“I just… I wanted to ask,” Jeffrey continues, “can you give me another chance?”

Okay. What the actual fuck is happening here?

“Holy shit,” Eunjin exclaims quietly behind Baekhyun, making him jump up in surprise.

“You scared the hell out of me!” Baekhyun groans as he turns to her. “Where have you been all night?”

“Bathroom,” Eunjin hisses. “I’m never eating raw fish before dancing again.”

“I, uh, well, I’m not sure what to say,” Minhee stutters. “I, uh, can you, uh, I don’t know….”

“Kiss!” the same person from the back of the crowd yells. The rest of the crowd cheers and starts chanting, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” louder and louder. Baekhyun snaps around, but Jongin’s no longer standing next to him.

Jeffrey laughs, waves to the crowd, and to Baekhyun’s horror, walks closer and closer towards a clearly panicking Minhee.

And then, before anyone can register what’s happening, Jongin leaps to the podium and punches Jeffrey straight in the face.

People gasp, the teachers spring to action, pulling Jongin away from Jeffrey.

“Jongin!” Minhee shouts. “What are you doing?!”

“Stopping this asshole from harassing my girlfriend!” Jongin snaps, trying to pry free from Mr. Li’s grasp. “Let me at him!”

“Your girlfriend?” Jeffrey snorts as he gets off the floor. “She said you guys are just friends with benefits.”

Shocked gasps fill the room as Minhee freezes on the spot.

“What?” Jongin says. He turns to Minhee. “What’s he talking about.”

Minhee doesn’t say anything. She just keeps staring at Jeffrey as if she’d seen a ghost.

“Answer me!” Jongin yells. “What the fuck is he talking about?”

“You’re just a fuckboy,” Jeffrey continues, “everybody at school knows. Is there even a girl at this school you haven’t tried to sleep with?”

“Okay, stop this right now, Mr. Miller,” Mr. Patel says sternly.

“You really think anyone could actually date you?” Jeffrey continues, ignoring the principal. “You think anyone could  _ love _ you? Fucking idiot!”

Jongin keeps looking at Minhee. “Say something. Minhee. Please.”

Minhee just keeps standing in her spot, her mouth slightly parted, but unmoving.

Jongin’s face darkens. “I see. Well, that explains a lot. Let go of me.”

He shrugs Mr. Li away and storms off.

Baekhyun watches as Jongin marches out of the hall. He wants to follow after him, but at the same time, how could he leave Minhee there?

“Go,” Eunjin says, as if reading his mind. “I’ll take care of Min. I’ll make sure that asshole doesn’t touch her. Go after Jongin.”

Baekhyun doesn’t need to be told twice. He sprints out of the hall.

“Jongin, wait up!” Baekhyun yells when he finally catches up to Jongin in the parking lot.

“Leave me alone!” Jongin yells back, unlocking the car.

“No!” Baekhyun groans as he pulls Jongin back before he can get into the driver’s seat. “You’re drunk! Let me drive.”

Jongin lets out a snort. “Fuck you, Baekhyun!”

“Well, fuck you too, Jongin!” Baekhyun snaps. “I am  _ not _ letting you kill yourself with drunk driving. I’m driving! Deal with it!”

Jongin throws his hands up in the air and lets out an angry grunt. Then, he hands Baekhyun the keys and gets in the passenger’s seat.

“Okay,” Baekhyun nods slowly, his mind racing. “Good. No drunk driving, check. Seatbelt?”

“Yes,  _ mom _ ,” Jongin shakes his head as he puts on the seatbelt. “Are you happy? Now get me the fuck out of here!”

“Right,” Baekhyun clears his throat as he starts the engine.

They spend the rest of the ride in silence. The whole time, Jongin’s chugging his illegal alcohol bottle, and Baekhyun really wants to throw it out of the window, but considering what Jongin’s just been through, he decides against it. Just this once.

“Um, do you want me to take you home in this state?” Baekhyun asks once they’re back in Palo Alto.

“No,” Jongin mumbles. “Can I stay at yours?”

“Uh, sure,” Baekhyun nods. Maybe it’d be better than having Jongin’s parents call up everybody demanding to know what exactly happened at prom.

When they finally come stumbling through Baekhyun’s front door, his mom immediately rushes over to see them.

“You guys are here so early!” she exclaims. “Why—is that booze? What happened?”

“Hi, Mrs. Byun,” Jongin greets her with a wide and very stinky grin. “Why are you so pretty, Mrs. Byun?”

“Don’t ask, mom,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “Just…. Can you tell Jongin’s parents later that he’s staying over?”

Her expression softens. “Right. Don’t worry, I’ll make something up.”

With a bit of effort, Baekhyun manages to get a very drunk and very giggly Jongin to his room.

“Why’s your room spinning, Baekhyun,” Jongin groans as he falls face down onto Baekhyun’s bed. “Ouch! Baekhyun, your pillow hurt me!”

“Jeez, you’ve never had a drink before, have you,” Baekhyun mutters to himself. He manages to get Jongin’s dress shoes off. Then, he slowly flips Jongin over so he can take off the jacket as well.

“I’m cold!” Jongin complains. “Why don’t you have a blanket, Baekhyun?”

“You’re literally lying on top of it, you idiot,” Baekhyun mutters under his breath.

“Wait, no,” Jongin says after a brief pause. “I’m not cold. I’m hot. Can you turn on the AC, Baekhyun?”

“The fuck?” Baekhyun exclaims. “It’s like 70 degrees!”

“I’ll just make myself comfortable then,” Jongin pouts as he starts taking off his belt.

“Yeah, whatever,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “I’m going to the bathroom. Stay on the bed!”

“Roger that, captain!” Jongin giggles.

Baekhyun shakes his head and stalks out of the room. He goes back to the living room, quickly explaining Jongin’s predicament without going into too much detail, and washes up in the bathroom briskly before going back to his room, only to find Jongin still fumbling with his pants.

“Ow, Baekhyun!” Jongin grins when he sees him. “I think my pants are broken!”

“Are you kidding me?” Baekhyun groans. “Okay, fine. Let’s see.”

He helps Jongin undress and puts on some of his own spare pajamas on the boy. Then he tucks him under the blanket. “Please don’t throw up on my bed, okay?”

“Okay,” Jongin nods.

“Alright, I’ll be in the living room if you—”

“Nooo,” Jongin whines. “Don’t go! You can’t go! I’m scared!”

Baekhyun suppresses a snort. “Man, I should be recording this. So much blackmail material.”

“Baekhyunnie,” Jongin pouts. “Baekhyunnie, please tell me that you love me.”

“Eh?” Baekhyun grimaces. “What happened to the whole no homo thing?”

“Baekhyunnie!” Jongin wails. “Nobody loves me!”

Baekhyun lets out a sigh. He climbs onto his bed next to Jongin. “It’s okay, Jongin. It’s okay. I love you. Eunjin loves you. And, even if it doesn’t seem that way right now, Minhee loves you too.”

“No, they don’t,” Jongin grunts. “They just want to use me and throw me away.”

“What?” Baekhyun frowns. “No, Jongin, that’s not true. You know that’s not true. Don’t let what that asshole said get to you.”

“But it’s the truth,” Jongin continues anyway. “He was right. Eunjin didn’t love me. Min— _ she _ doesn’t love me. I only have you left now.”

“Stop with the nonsense, Jongin,” Baekhyun scolds him. “I’m sure it’s all just a huge misunderstanding. Minhee—”

“Can we not talk about her?” Jongin interrupts him. “ _ Please _ .”

“Okay,” Baekhyun agrees. “What do you want to talk about then?”

“You’re really pretty, Baekhyun,” Jongin says. “Did I ever tell you?”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “This is  _ not _ the change of topic I was hoping for.”

“But for real!” Jongin continues, his gaze firmly glued on Baekhyun’s face. “Don’t tell the girls I told you this, but you’re like the prettiest one of us.”

“Shut up and stop making this weird,” Baekhyun grimaces. “You’ve got some serious issues when drunk, man.”

“I just wanted you to know,” Jongin pouts, looking away. “Hey, can I be honest?”

“Of course you can,” Baekhyun replies.

“I don’t think I love Minhee,” Jongin says.

Baekhyun blinks. This is not at all what he was expecting. “Um, excuse me?”

“I don’t love Minhee,” Jongin repeats, his eyes squinting. “The more I think about it, the more I’m sure of it. I think I still love Eunjin.”

Okay, what is all of this? Isn’t this crap supposed to only happen in makjang dramas? “Jongin, do you know what you’re saying?”

“Yes,” Jongin nods. “I… I wasn’t even that angry about him saying Minhee sees me as a fuck buddy. I think I kind of saw it coming. She’s been really distant ever since Eunjin started hanging out with us again. I think she knows, too.”

“I… I don’t know what to say,” Baekhyun confesses.

“Then don’t say anything,” Jongin giggles as he turns back to Baekhyun. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Eunjin’s going to New York anyway. Minhee’s probably going to get back with that jerk.”

“No, she’s not,” Baekhyun snorts. “That’s not gonna happen.”

That  _ can’t _ happen.

“Baekhyunnie!” Jongin whines again. “Why are you so pretty?”

“Why are you so weird when you’re drunk?” Baekhyun shoots back.

“You know, now that I think about it, you’re the only one in the group I haven’t kissed,” Jongin says slowly, his eyes dropping slightly into that sensual look that he  _ knows _ affects people, Baekhyun realizes.

“Jongin, please—”

He can’t finish the sentence because suddenly, Jongin closes the gap between them, crashing his lips against Baekhyun’s. Baekhyun’s eyes widen in shock as his brain tries to figure out what to do in this situation. Jongin’s lips are soft and warm and it feels  _ so _ good, but Baekhyun knows it’s wrong, and suddenly, as if a hidden instinct kicked in, Baekhyun shoves Jongin away from him.

“What the hell!” Baekhyun exclaims lividly.

“Sorry,” Jongin mutters. “I just… I’m sorry. I’m such an asshole.”

“Jongin, please don’t do that again,” Baekhyun says quietly.

“I won’t,” Jongin says, turning around. “I’m sorry. I’m an asshole.”

When Jongin starts sobbing into the pillow, Baekhyun realizes just how vulnerable and hurting the other boy is. His expression softens and he puts his hand around Jongin’s arms. “It’s going to be alright, Jongin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what a fiasco this is... two more chapters and we'll finally leave this high school mess behind :3


	7. Chapter 7

They don’t speak of it the next morning. After breakfast, he thanks Baekhyun’s parents for covering for him, and with a quick and strained goodbye to Baekhyun, he leaves.

Baekhyun sits in his room, replaying the events from last night in his head. For months, things seemed to finally settle down again, only to be completely uprooted in a single night.

He pulls out his phone to call Minhee, to find out how things turned out for her. He feels bad about not calling her, but maybe she’ll understand his situation.

But, before he can even unlock his screen, the phone lights up on its own with a call.

It’s from Sehun.

Baekhyun blinks, his spare automatically shooting up to his head to fix his morning hair before picking up.

“Hey,” Baekhyun greets him.

“Hi, babe,” Sehun replies. He looks different. Sophisticated. Mature.  _ Very _ confused. “I saw the video on Facebook. What the hell happened at your prom?”

“Oh god,” Baekhyun’s eyes widen. “It’s on Facebook? Fuck.”

“I can’t reach Jongin at all,” Sehun frowns.

“I don’t think he’s in the mood to talk today,” Baekhyun says. He proceeds to recount the events of the previous night, sans the unsolicited first kiss.

He still can’t believe he lost his first kiss to a drunk Jongin.

Sehun listens to him patiently. When Baekhyun finally finishes the story, he sighs. “I… I’m sorry, but I feel like Minhee fucked up really bad there.”

“She was in shock,” Baekhyun says. “I don’t think she even registered what was going on.”

“Still,” Sehun shrugs. “Hey, can you give Jongin a hug for me? He may not look like it, but he really likes being hugged. Well, at least he used to.”

He still does, Baekhyun thinks to himself. “Uh, sure. I’ll make sure to mention that it’s from you.”

Sehun frowns. “Did something happen?”

Baekhyun freezes. “What? No, nothing at all. Me and Jongin are fine. Why do you ask?”

“Um, babe, you kinda just admitted it,” Sehun says with a weak smile.

“Fuck,” Baekhyun groans. “Am I really that transparent?”

“No, I’m just really good at reading your face,” Sehun deadpans.

Baekhyun takes a deep breath. “I mean, everything’s really fine. It’s stupid. Not even worth mentioning.”

“But it’s clearly bothering you.”

“I—well, last night, Jongin and I talked about a lot of stuff,” Baekhyun says slowly. “And he kept talking about how pretty I am.”

“Go on,” Sehun encourages him.

“And, well, he may or may not have… like,  _ kissed _ me,” Baekhyun admits finally. “But, you know, it wasn’t really a kiss. More like a  _ peck _ . Mouth-to-mouth contact. We didn’t… like there weren’t any tongues involved. No bodily fluid exchange happened.”

Sehun bursts out in a cackling laughter. “Oh, gosh, that’s  _ it _ ? You’re freaking out because he kissed you?”

Baekhyun blinks, his face heating up. “Well, I’m not  _ freaking out _ . Just…  _ unnerved _ .”

“Baekhyun, it’s really not that big of a deal,” Sehun keeps laughing. “Jongin’s really touchy. He bites people all the time. I mean, we made out, like, all the time in seventh grade.”

“ _ What?! _ ” Baekhyun exclaims. “You guys were  _ together _ or—”

“Of course not!” Sehun waves his hand dismissively. “We were young, curious, and we never kissed a girl before. I don’t know, I guess we just wanted to be ready. For when the time comes.”

Baekhyun gawks at him. “Really? And that’s… normal?”

“I mean, who doesn’t experiment in middle school?” Sehun laughs but stops when he sees the expression on Baekhyun’s voice. “... I guess you didn’t. And judging by your face… were you saving your first kiss for someone else?”

“I— _ no _ ,” Baekhyun denies, his face flushing. “I mean,  _ obviously _ I didn’t want it to be Jongin. But it’s not like… I was saving it… for anyone in particular… you know….”

“This reminds me, you never told me about your crush,” Sehun points out. “You know. You said you’d tell me about it.  _ Four months ago _ .”

“Haha, has it really been that long?” Baekhyun laughs nervously. Just  _ why _ did Sehun remember this of all things? “Um, you see, the thing is… well….”

“I’m just messing with you,” Sehun laughs and adds with a wink, “I know you only have eyes for me anyway.”

“Yeah, right,” Baekhyun chuckles uneasily. If only Sehun knew how true that is.

“Well, I just wanted to check in with you for a bit,” Sehun says, pursing his lips. “I actually am on standby for my next scene, so I better go practice my lines.”

“Oh, you’re in the middle of a shoot?” Baekhyun exclaims. “Dude, that’s so cool! Send me pictures of everything!”

“Alright, I will,” Sehun laughs. “Talk to you soon, Baekhyun!”

“Later!” Baekhyun grins. As soon as Sehun hangs up, he lets out an exasperated sigh.

He got  _ this _ close to finally telling Sehun his true feelings, and he botched it.  _ Again _ .

❊ ❊ ❊

“There he is!” Minhee shouts excitedly, her ice cream spoon falling out of her mouth. “Holy shit, he’s so  _ fine _ .”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods, smiling appreciatively. It’s so strange to see Sehun on TV, talking to all the celebrities that Baekhyun’s kind thought existed in a different reality than his own.

“Did you see that eyebrow twitch?” Minhee continues. “I knew he’d be a good actor!”

Baekhyun doesn’t reply. Instead, with a wide grin on his face, he just keeps staring at the screen. He looks so  _ adorable _ and sexy at the same time in that form-fitting school uniform. And the way he shrugs off all of Park Min Young’s attempts to smack him is too precious.

Unfortunately, Sehun’s scene ends far too soon, and the two of them once again fall silent as they absorb the plot of the new series.

It’s what they’ve been doing all spring break, really. Instead of enjoying it like everybody else, they’ve been stuck in Minhee’s house, binging one romcom show after another in an attempt to get Minhee’s mind off of… well,  _ everything _ .

Apparently, Minhee and Jongin met up the day after the  _ incident _ . Words were exchanged, emotions ruffled, and it seems that the two of them are no longer on speaking terms, this time for good. Baekhyun doesn’t know what exactly happened, because neither would talk about it. And perhaps, that’s for the better.

“Crap, I’m out of ice cream again,” Minhee sighs as she puts her pint of Ben & Jerry ice cream down. “Baekhyun, wanna make some brownies?”

Baekhyun winces. “Um, sure, whatever you want, Minhee.”

❊ ❊ ❊

If Baekhyun thought that things couldn’t possibly get worse, he was dead wrong. As his graduation draws closer, Baekhyun tries to stay on track, but it’s so hard with Sehun’s face distracting him both on TV and social media all the time. His drama is, of course, a tremendous success, and plenty of people have noticed the new eye candy. Sehun appreciation accounts pop up all over the place, and Baekhyun finds himself glued to his IG and Twitter instead of cramming for his exams more often than he can count.

And so, he completely forgets about that one important date until Minhee asks him at lunch.

“So, how did your applications go?”

Baekhyun freezes. “Crap. I haven’t checked my email.”

“Really?” Eunjin scoffs. “I got into MIT, by the way.”

Minhee squeals excitedly. “Oh my gosh,  _ gurl _ , I knew you could do it! I am so proud of you!”

“What about you?” Eunjin asks with a satisfied grin.

Minhee clears her throat. “Go Bears?”

“Yes!” Eunjin exclaims, giving Minhee a tight hug. “You made it!”

“ _ We _ made it,” Minhee corrects her. She then turns to Baekhyun. “So?”

Baekhyun clears his throat as he pulls out his phone. “Um, let’s see….”

His eyes quickly scan through the five missed emails he’s received. “Yeah. Just what I expected.”

“What does that mean?” Minhee frowns uneasily.

Baekhyun smiles weakly. “I’m going to State.”

He wishes Jongin was there.

❊ ❊ ❊

“It’s not too bad,” his mom tells him as she wraps her arms around him. “Come on, Baekhyun. It doesn’t matter which school you go to. It doesn’t make you any less smart than the snobby kids at Stanford.”

“Thanks, mom,” Baekhyun smiles. He  _ knows _ he could’ve gotten into Stanford. But the past few years have been too distracting, and he’s neglected so many extracurriculars.

But there’s no need to cry over spilled milk. Life moves on, and so should Baekhyun.

“Hey, dad,” Baekhyun says quietly. “Can I… I know that it’s nothing worth celebrating, but I was… well, I was thinking….”

His dad, who up until now remained silent, takes a deep breath. “Baekhyun, your mother and I aren’t disappointed. We told you right from the beginning that we’d support whatever path you chose. So out with it.”

Baekhyun’s throat chokes up. “I… I thought… maybe it’s high time I visited Korea?”

His parents exchange a glance.

“Sweetie, Korea?” his mom repeats. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods. “All of my friends have been. I’m the only one who’s never been there.”

“But we don’t have any relatives in Korea anymore,” his mom mutters. “You’d have to stay in a hotel, and you don’t even know how to get around.”

“I’m eighteen, mom,” Baekhyun reminds her. “I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can,” his mom replies with too sweet of a smile, making Baekhyun wonder if she’s being sarcastic. “So, dad? What do we think?”

“It’s high time he learned how real life works,” his dad shrugs and turns back to watching the soccer match.

❊ ❊ ❊

Baekhyun’s ecstatic when he gets to his room, his worries about university completely evaporating from his mind. He is going to  _ Korea _ , after all. Okay, now, he  _ knows _ it’s probably not going to be as cool of an experience as the ten million k-dramas he’s watched paint it to be, but it’s definitely going to be a fun experience.

Also, he might get to see Sehun again.

As he plops down on his bed, he decides to share the happy news with Jongin. After all, among his friends, Jongin’s the one person who’s been to Korea the most—he usually goes every other summer to visit his grandparents, so he probably would have the best advice for him.

“Jongin!” Baekhyun exclaims as soon as the other picks up. “Guess what!”

“What?” Jongin asks, his voice sounding strained.

“I’m going to Korea!” Baekhyun grins.

“Really?” Jongin asks. “Wow, that’s cool. Finally you’ll visit your homeland, huh?”

“I’m so excited!” Baekhyun gushes. “Like, you gotta tell me  _ everything _ about it! Where do I stay? My mom says I’ll have to find my own lodging. Should I rent out a rooftop apartment? They look so cool in dramas! What neighborhood? How do you use public transit?”

“I don’t know,” Jongin says slowly. “I stay at my grandparents’ when I’m there, and we go everywhere by car.”

Baekhyun can’t help but notice the strange lack of cheerfulness in Jongin’s voice. “What’s wrong, Jongin?”

“What?” Jongin replies. He pauses for a few seconds before audibly sighing. “I… I told my parents I’m not going to college.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun blinks. “Well, how did they react?”

“Badly,” Jongin says curtly.

“What does that mean?”

“....”

“Jongin?”

“... I am to move out at the end of the week.”

Shit.

“I’m so sorry,” Baekhyun mutters under his breath. He knew Jongin’s parents were strict, but not to this extent. “Are you sure they’re not just, you know, saying stuff in the heat of the moment? Maybe they’ll come around and—”

“They already froze all of my accounts and took away my car,” Jongin says. “Dad says he’s not giving a single penny to a ‘freeloader.’”

“Crap,” Baekhyun curses. “What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know, Baekhyun,” Jongin replies sadly. “I don’t fucking know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was an exhausting chapter. I tried to speed through things while not leaving out too much and addressing as many issues Baekhyun's faced so far and laying the groundwork for when college kicks in. Let me know if I missed something or if you want clarification on anything! I'm not perfect; I have most of the stuff written down, but they don't always make it to the chapter, cuz I'm a goldfish and I forget that I wanted to write something cuz I easily get distracted by a different train of thoughts >.< Thanks for all the kudos and comments! <3


	8. Chapter 8

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay at my place?” Baekhyun asks as he helps Jongin load up the few cardboard boxes on the sidewalk.

“I’ll be fine, Baekhyun,” Jongin says with a forced smile. “I don’t mind staying at Junmyeon’s.”

Junmyeon is Jongin’s older cousin. Baekhyun met him only once; apparently, Jongin’s parents and Junmyeon’s parents had a falling out a couple years back, and they’re barely on speaking terms anymore.

“But will they really let you stay at the dorms?” Baekhyun muses. “I mean, don’t they have, like, an RA or something?”

“Junmyeon  _ is _ the RA,” Jongin explains, his lips curling just a tiny bit. “He told me that I can stay until the end of the term. That should give me some time to find a job and hopefully find my own living or something.”

_ Or something _ .

“Besides,” Jongin continues,” it’s much closer to school. I can just take the bus, and maybe I can get a job at Gong Cha or something. That’s, like, a five-minute walk from the dorms.”

Baekhyun nods along as they put the last of the boxes in Baekhyun’s trunk. “I suppose the owner likes you well enough.”

They drive down to San Jose in silence. There’s a lot on Jongin’s mind, Baekhyun can see that clear as day on his friend’s face. So he lets him think, to collect his thoughts, and instead just focuses on the road.

Twenty minutes later, they finally arrive on campus. It’s in the middle of the day, so most people are either in class or having lunch. Baekhyun manages to find a free parking spot just outside of the college market.

“Junmyeon said CV2 is the newest building,” Jongin mutters and points at the one to their left. “That must be it.”

They leave the boxes in the car for now so they could find Junmyeon first. “Where is your cousin, anyway?”

“He said he’s at the front desk right now,” Jongin replies. They walk past the huge glass panes and finally find the entrance door. It’s keycard access only, but thankfully, Jongin immediately spots Junmyeon inside chatting with some girl and waves him over.

“Hi, Jongin,” the man says with a wide grin. “And you… wait, I remember your name. Baek… Baekho, wasn’t it?”

“Baekhyun,” Baekhyun corrects him.

“Ah, sorry,” Junmyeon laughs. “It’s been a while. Like, what, four years?”

“Yeah, around that.”

“So, welcome to Campus Village 2,” Junmyeon continues. “I’d give you a grand tour, but people would be asking a lot of questions about why we have a new resident a month before the semester’s over, so let’s just get you settled in, shall we? Where’s your stuff?”

Between the three of them, they manage to get Jongin’s stuff in the elevator in just two trips.

“You’re lucky to get to live in the nicest building,” Junmyeon says after they get off on the 4th floor. “All rooms here are doubles, but since I don’t have a roommate, you can just stay on the spare bed for now. I guess. As long as nobody finds out, it should be fine.”

He leads them to room 411 and opens the door with his keycard. It’s a rather cozy room, Baekhyun thinks. Small, definitely smaller than his own, but he supposes it was spacious enough for two busy people to share. There’s two twin beds, two desks, two closets, two chairs. And the view was pretty good; it overlooked the main courtyard between the housing buildings, so that was nice.

“How much is the rent?” Baekhyun wonders.

“Ah, you don’t want to know,” Junmyeon laughs sheepishly.

Baekhyun pulls out his phone and googles it anyway. His eyes bulge out.

“Holy shit. They make you pay $1500 a month to  _ share _ a room?”

Jongin gawks at him. “What?”

“Yeah,” Junmyeon shrugs. “What can I say? Bay Area prices.”

“Well, screw this,” Baekhyun grunts. “I’m living off-campus next semester.”

“You’re coming here?” Junmyeon raises an eyebrow. “Neat! Go Spartans!”

“Yay,” Baekhyun shrugs. “Wait, please don’t tell me I’m required to live on campus. Cuz I think Minhee said Berkeley makes them live on campus.”

“Only if you’re from outside town, which you guys technically aren’t, since you go to that private school down south,” Junmyeon replies.

“Good,” Baekhyun sighs. “Yeah, definitely gonna live off-campus.”

❊ ❊ ❊

Except, maybe he won’t. Baekhyun stares at the Cragslist posting about housing around the university. $1700 for a studio? What the actual fuck?

“Hmm, you’re checking out housing already?” his mom asks him as she peeks over his shoulder. “Why go through that hassle? Just apply for campus housing.”

“Mom, it’s $1500 for a month,” Baekhyun says.

“So?” his mom shrugs. “Bay Area prices.”

Baekhyun gawks at her. Have rents really been this bad? No. That can’t be. Surely, he can find something decent. “Mom, I can’t make $1500 a month  _ and _ be a full-time student.”

“Mm,” she nods, sitting down on the couch next to him. “Dad and I talked last night, by the way. I told him the same thing.”

Baekhyun slowly turns to her. “So?”

“So we agreed that on top of your tuition costs, we can also cover  _ some _ of your expenses,” she says. “About a thousand a month.”

The gears inside Baekhyun’s head immediately start spinning. With a crappy job, he could make maybe $14 an hour. Twenty hours a week, that’s maybe $1200 a month. With tax deductions and whatnot, around $1000. So his monthly budget would come up to $2000.

Maybe he could do the studio?

“Don’t forget to include food expenses,” she smiles at him with a knowing look.

Crap. Okay, so studio is out of the question. “Well, if I do stay on campus, I guess I could have one meal for free… and then no utilities… but, no, that’s… I don’t want to share a room with anyone.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” his mom chimes.

“I’m not a beggar!” Baekhyun sulks. He’s their only son, goddamnit! Eventually, their money will become his, so why can’t they just, well,  _ expedite _ the process a little bit?

“No, Baekhyun,” his mom shakes her head immediately, as if reading his mind. “We’ve pampered you enough. You need to learn how real life works.”

Baekhyun pouts. “Well, I still want to live off-campus.”

“Find a housemate, then,” his mom suggests. “Two-bedroom apartments are just a little more pricey than studios, but if you split the costs in half….”

“Mom,” Baekhyun blinks. “You’re a genius.”

His mom laughs. “No, I’m just practical.”

❊ ❊ ❊

“How’s your job hunt going?” Baekhyun asks his friend at lunch.

“I submitted my application yesterday afternoon,” Jongin replies. “If I’m lucky, I can start training next week.”

“Nice,” Baekhyun smiles. “Listen, I have this idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Have you figured out where you’re going to live after we graduate?”

Jongin grimaces. “No, not really.”

“So, I was thinking, you know how crazy rents are in this area?”

“Yeah….”

“Well, I was thinking, maybe we could share an apartment together!”

Jongin stares at Baekhyun. “Say what?”

Baekhyun grins. “You know, we could find a small two-bedroom apartment and share it together! I did the math, and I think we could fit under $1500 with  _ all _ expenses each!”

Jongin frowns. “I… actually, Marcus from Spanish said that he and his buddies wanted to rent a townhouse in Santa Clara. They said the rent would be just $600 if we all share rooms.”

Baekhyun’s face falls. “Oh.”

“I mean, I didn’t agree to it,” Jongin adds quickly. “It’s just… I mean, I don’t have any fallback plan, Baekhyun. I don’t even know how much money I can make in a month.”

“No, I get it,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “You gotta weigh all of your options. Yeah.”

“I’m not saying no, it’s just that $1500 a month sounds like a lot right now.”

Baekhyun furrows his brows. “Well, what about a studio together? I bet we could find a cheap one to share. That’d be a few hundred bucks off.”

“I thought you didn’t want to share a room,” Jongin says.

“Well, I don’t really want to share an apartment, either,” Baekhyun admits. “But if I have to share with someone, you obviously are the best option.”

Jongin’s face turns just a little bit pink. “Oh, yeah, haha. Well, thanks. For the trust. I mean, I will definitely think about it. Positively. Haha.”

“No worries, take your time,” Baekhyun smiles at him.

❊ ❊ ❊

“I heard Jongin’s been kicked out of his house,” Minhee says suddenly one day when they’re cramming for finals.

“Huh?” Baekhyun blinks. “H-how do you know?”

“Parents,” Minhee shrugs. “The whole neighborhood knows by now.”

“Right.”

They fall silent again. Baekhyun tries to get his mind on studying psychology again, but he can’t.

“What?” Minhee groans when Baekhyun puts down his textbook with a long sigh.

“I… I offered to live with Jongin,” Baekhyun says, trying to gauge Minhee’s expression. When she keeps looking at him blankly, he continues. “You know, rent is not cheap, and so I thought it’d be best if I found a housemate. And Jongin’s a close friend.”

“Okay,” Minhee nods, her face contorting slightly. “Good for you.”

“Really?” Baekhyun asks. “You don’t mind?”

“Why would I mind?”

“I don’t know, I thought you hate him.”

Minhee laughs. “What’s between you and Jongin is none of my business. Besides, it’s him who doesn’t want to see my face ever again.”

Baekhyun thinks back to Jongin’s drunken confession. It’s kind of unfair that Minhee’s taking all the blame for that disaster, but he doesn’t voice that opinion.

“What are you doing this summer?” he asks instead.

“I don’t know. Eunjin and I were thinking we might go down to San Diego together. Enjoy what little time we have to spend together. Since you’re going to Korea and all.”

“I see.”

Minhee’s eyebrow twitches. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Baekhyun shakes his head.

“It’s definitely not nothing,” Minhee says, poking his shoulder. “Out with it.”

Baekhyun sighs. “I… I guess I’m just worried. About Jongin.”

Minhee’s face hardens. “Why do you care so much about him?”

“I don’t know, because he’s a friend?” Baekhyun says exasperatedly. “Even though you won’t admit it right now, you’re worried about him, too, aren’t you?”

Minhee looks away. “It’s his life and his decisions. He’s gotta learn to take responsibility.”

Baekhyun’s jaw drops. “Are you serious right now?”

“What!”

“How is any of this his fault?”

“Well, for starters, he could’ve told his parents  _ before _ the college admission deadline!” Minhee grunts. “He didn’t even apply to any college! He could’ve told them at any time, but he didn’t. He waited until the last possible moment to tell them, so what did he expect?”

“That’s not fair,” Baekhyun counters. “You’re only saying this because you’re pissed at him.”

“No, I’m saying it because it’s true,” Minhee snaps back. “He messed up bad, and you’re defending him because—I don’t even know why you’re defending him, honestly.”

Baekhyun snorts. “So you  _ are _ pissed at him.”

“I never said I wasn’t,” Minhee says through gritted teeth.

“I should’ve known,” Baekhyun mutters. “Jongin would never push you away, even after what you did to him.”

“Really?” Minhee says, crossing her arms. “You’re going to take his side.”

“Well, he wasn’t the one all over his ex on prom night,” Baekhyun shoots back.

“You’re calling me a slut?”

“Your words, not mine.”

“At least I didn’t suck his dick!”

“What the fuck is  _ that _ supposed to mean?”

Minhee abruptly stands up, her eyes shut. “Nothing. Sorry. I think I should go before I say something I can’t take back.”

“Good idea,” Baekhyun grunts.

Minhee gives him an unreadable look before grabbing her stuff and walking out of Baekhyun’s room.

What the fuck was happening to them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor Baekhyun... final stretch and all of his friendships are messing up :( Well, this is the last high-school centric chapter. Starting from the next chapter, it's *finally* gonna be sebaek focused again. Summer vacation in Korea, then college life and the real slow burn of sebaek can finally commence~


	9. Chapter 9

Baekhyun sighs as he stares at the photo of Minhee and Eunjin hanging out on the beach. They haven’t really talked ever since that fight just before finals. They said hi to each other, sure, and asked each other about how exams went. But that’s about it—Minhee and Eunjin basically became sworn boys-hating sisters, and Baekhyun just hung out with Jongin for the most part.

But he supposes he could swallow his pride. Just this once.

**_bbhyun_ ** _ : u 2 look cute together (◕ᴥ◕) _

Minhee’s words keep replaying in his mind these days.  _ At least I didn’t suck his dick. _ Did she really think that Baekhyun would do that? To her, of all people?

His phone vibrates lightly, and Baekhyun opens the notification.

**_mini_1004_ ** _ : thx, wish u were here with us :x enjoy korea~~~ _

Baekhyun chuckles to himself. Yeah, they definitely are still fighting if she still hasn’t bombarded him with DMs about Sehun yet.

Baekhyun dismisses IG and opens up Messenger instead. It’s finally time. Taking a deep breath, he opens up his top chat.

**_Bacon_ ** _ : yo, wassup ^_^ _

He gets a reply almost instantly.

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Hey babe (・ε・｀) _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : How’s life after high school treating you? _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : its all good haha _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : wyd rn? (・∀・) _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Nothing much, just chilling at home (¦ꀦ[▓▓] _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : ok dont freak too much _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : but _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : im kinda in korea rn :DDDDDDD _

And Baekhyun waits. Five seconds, ten seconds, thirty seconds. Sehun’s clearly read the message, but he’s not replying.

Baekhyun frowns. Did he mess up? He thought it’d be cool if he surprised Sehun and didn’t say anything about his plan. But now that he’s actually here, sitting in a coffee shop and eating one of the most divinely delicious shortcakes he’s ever had the pleasure of trying, he starts doubting his decision. What if Sehun doesn’t find it funny? What if he actually gets mad that Baekhyun didn’t think to tell him?

Finally, after two minutes, Sehun starts typing again.

**_Sehun_ ** _ : … You’re actually serious? _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : yeah OTL _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Holy guacamole (ﾟωﾟ;) _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : WHERE ARE YOU _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : AND WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER _

**_Bacon_ ** _ : haha i wanted to surprise u ( 〃．．) _

**_Sehun_ ** _ : Tell me where you are and I’ll meet you in 10 _

❊ ❊ ❊

It takes Sehun actually closer to forty minutes to arrive, but Baekhyun doesn’t care at all, because all he can think about right now is that at long last, after three and a half years, he’s met Sehun again.

The crappy video calls and scarce photos the taller sends do him no justice at all. Sehun’s glow up is seriously no joke. He looks even better now than when he’s in full make up on TV, Baekhyun thinks.

He’s so fucked.

“Baekhyun!” Sehun exclaims, rushing over to where Baekhyun’s sitting. Baekhyun barely has time to stand up from his seat before Sehun pulls him into a very tight hug.

“Ugh, hi,” he manages to say.

“I can’t believe you’re really here!” Sehun says excitedly. “I thought you were pulling an elaborate prank on me for a second!”

“Haha,” Baekhyun laughs, his cheeks reddening as Sehun finally releases him. “I wouldn’t dream of doing that to you.”

“Yeah, I know, but I just couldn’t believe that you really came all the way here,” Sehun says. “How long are you staying?”

“Two weeks,” Baekhyun replies. “I have to go to orientation after that.”

“Oh, right, you said you got into State, right?” Sehun laughs. “That’s so cool!”

Baekhyun clears his throat. “You’re still in school, right?”

“Yeah,” Sehun nods, wincing. “We’re going to have exams soon, and then after that I still have one more semester before graduation.”

“Cool,” Baekhyun smiles awkwardly. “How’s acting?”

“Tiring,” Sehun replies with a long sigh. “You wouldn’t believe the hours involved. But I still love it. I think I found a right calling!”

Just then, the waitress comes over. “Hello, can I take your order?”

“I’ll have whatever he’s having,” Sehun smiles at her, switching to Korean so fluently that it makes Baekhyun feel bad for the broken Korean he used to order his latte earlier.

“Right away,” she nods quickly. “Um, also, can I… can I take a picture with you?”

“Oh, sure,” Sehun laughs.

The waitress squeals and pulls out her phone. They take a few selfies together, the waitress thanks Sehun with several deep bows, and she hurries away to make his order.

“Popular much, huh,” Baekhyun says playfully.

“Well, you know, everyone wants a piece of this, but it’s all yours,” Sehun replies with a wink, and Baekhyun’s face immediately flares up.

Holy fuck. It’s one thing to deal with Sehun’s playful flirting on video call, but to see it in person two feet away from Baekhyun’s face is a whole different story.

“So, tell me everything,” Sehun says, leaning forward closer than Baekhyun’s comfortable with (but in a nice, pleasant way, you know). “What’s going on in Cali?”

And Baekhyun does. His mouth just goes off, and he spills stories one after another, from his struggles with geography in sophomore year, his failed attempt at learning the ukulele, all the way to his recent falling out with Minhee.

“... so yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Baekhyun says finally, taking a deep sip from his latte macchiato.

“That’s rough,” Sehun winces. “But, well, I think you skipped one part of your life.”

“Mm?”

“Girls.”

Baekhyun almost spits out the coffee.

Sehun laughs. “Come on, Baekhyun, you’ve been avoiding the topic for months now!”

“Well,” Baekhyun mutters, trying to rack something inside his brain. “I just… well, there just wasn’t anyone I was interested in.”

“Really,” Sehun says, giving him  _ the _ look. “Four years, and you weren’t interested in any girl. At all.”

“What about you?” Baekhyun deflects.

“You won’t tell me but expect me to tell you?” Sehun laughs.

“Touché,” Baekhyun winces.

“Anyway, what’s your plan for the day?” Sehun asks as he finishes his latte.

“Um, actually,” Baekhyun says slowly, scratching his neck, “I was kinda hoping… well, I mean, you don’t have to, but, well….”

Sehun grins widely. “You want me to show you around?”

“If you don’t mind,” Baekhyun nods sheepishly.

“No, I’d love to!” Sehun exclaims, standing up excitedly. “Let’s go!”

“Now?” Baekhyun blinks.

“Now!”

❊ ❊ ❊

They wander the streets of Myeongdong for what must have been hours. Sehun was right—the whole place is so vibrant, full of life. The streets are filled with people, there are food stands all around them, and everyone looks like they’re having so much fun. The two of them try everything—spicy rice cakes, red bean carp bread, blood sausages—things Baekhyun never thought he’d be able to eat, but when Sehun recommends something, who is he to not listen?

After they try all the street food Korea has to offer and then some more, with full stomachs, Sehun drags him to a bubble tea shop. Just like in the good old days, both of them get taro milk tea, and it’s  _ so  _ good. It should be criminal for Korean boba to be this good.

“So,” Sehun says finally as they walk through a nice and cozy park, their drinks in their hands, “I don’t know about you, but my legs fucking hurt.”

“Same,” Baekhyun groans, rubbing his thighs. “I’m not used to walking.”

“No shit, Mr. California,” Sehun laughs. “Tell you what, why don’t we go over to my place and chill?”

Baekhyun gulps. Did this really just happen? Is Sehun asking him to go home? Isn’t this going too fast—wait, no, he needs to get a grip. Going over to your guy friend’s house is a totally normal thing. Jongin crashes Baekhyun’s home all the time, after all.

The startled expression on Baekhyun’s face doesn’t seem to escape Sehun’s attention, however. Leaning in, the taller whispers playfully, “You know, Netflix and chill.”

Baekhyun smacks him on the shoulder before his mind gets any funny ideas. “Haha, funny. Sure, let’s go.”

❊ ❊ ❊

“Nice apartment,” Baekhyun whistles when Sehun unlocks the door.

“Yeah, it’s small, but more than enough for me,” Sehun nods.

“And your parents are cool with you living alone?” Baekhyun asks, eyeing the place. It looks like everything Baekhyun wants for his own college living—a reasonably spacious one-bedroom apartment, with an open living room just big enough to fit a small dining table, a couch, and a TV. The kitchen line is well equipped, with a four-burner induction stove top, a built-in oven and microwave, and even a dishwasher. All of the furniture and appliances look brand-new, and Baekhyun can’t help but mentally calculate how much this place must have cost out of habit.

“And this is the bedroom,” Sehun says as he swings the connected door open. The bedroom itself is rather small, much smaller than Baekhyun’s definitely, but there’s just enough space for one queen-sized bed, a closet, and a computer rig.

“Neat,” Baekhyun nods appreciatively, his eyes landing on the slightly open closet door, particularly, on a bright teal, opened box of condoms.

Right.

Quickly averting his gaze to not be caught staring, Baekhyun instead checks out Sehun’s computer. “Is this a meshify case?”

“Yep, one and only,” Sehun nods, immediately scuttling over to the PC. “I built it myself a few months back!”

“You still have time to play?”

“Yeah, at 3 AM I do.”

“Oh, rip.”

An uneasy feeling falls over Baekhyun. An hour ago, it seemed like such a great idea to come here, but now that he actually is in Sehun’s apartment, he starts regretting it. What’s he even doing here? It’s not like something’s gonna happen. No, as much as he hates to admit it, deep down, Baekhyun knows that all his efforts are wasted. Sehun will never see him as more than a friend.

Besides, he barely knows anything about Sehun. If anything, today’s been a great eye-opener on that. He had no idea Sehun lived alone without his parents, or what he did in his free time, what people surrounded him—nothing. He only knows his Internet Sehun.

And then the fucking condoms.

He shouldn’t have come here.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Baekhyun blinks. “Huh?”

Sehun’s looking at him with concern in his eyes. “You just spaced out for a bit.”

“Um, yeah, sorry,” Baekhyun says, clearing his throat. “Um, actually, I… well, I think maybe… I should go.”

“What?” Sehun frowns. “Did I do something?”

“No, no, not at all,” Baekhyun shakes his head quickly. “I just… I’m feeling a bit tired.”

“You can stay over if you want,” Sehun offers immediately. “I did tell you my bed was big enough for both of us.”

Memories from their past conversations suddenly come rushing back into Baekhyun’s mind. ‘ _ I’d only make sweet love to you, babe. _ ’

Why. Why does Sehun have to make Baekhyun’s life a living hell? Baekhyun just wants to confess  _ everything _ right now, so Sehun would know what effect those fleeting words have on him.

But he can’t. He doesn’t have the balls to do it. If this was a chat, he could easily just type his confession up and either send or delete it—but to say those words out loud? No, he can’t.

“I… I really should get going,” Baekhyun says finally. “Sorry, Sehun.”

“No, it’s alright,” Sehun smiles at him warmly. “Whatever works for you best. Want me to walk you to your hotel?”

“I’ll just grab a taxi or something,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “It’s a pretty far walk anyway, and my legs still hurt.”

“Okay,” Sehun nods. “Listen, there’s this party tomorrow evening at a friend’s house, do you want to come?”

Baekhyun frowns. “Me? But I don’t even know your friend!”

“It’s cool,” Sehun reassures him. “They’re all happy to meet new people. And I’d really love for you to be there.”

Baekhyun’s face turns a shade redder. “Um, yeah, if you want—I mean, sure, I’ll come.”

“Cool!” Sehun grins. “I’ll pick you up at your hotel and we can go together, how does that sound?”

“That works,” Baekhyun smiles weakly.

“Great!” Sehun says. “I will see you tomorrow, then!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so they finally meet again! The next few chapters will be all about Baekhyun and Sehun hanging out in Korea. Now excuse me while I go research on how parties in Korea work...


	10. Chapter 10

Baekhyun really shouldn’t have come here.

After spending the whole day exploring Itaewon, Baekhyun got back to his hotel room at 5 PM and got ready to attend a party with Sehun. He had no idea what to expect, but he put on some stylish new clothes he got from the department store. Hopefully, he looks cool enough.

Sehun hadn’t really told him what to expect, so as the two of them approached a stylish modern townhouse in Cheongdam-dong, Baekhyun started feeling just a little bit anxious. Baekhyun had a few ideas about what was on the program: maybe a few of Sehun’s high school friends wanted to get together and go to a noraebang or something—that seems to happen a lot in k-dramas. Or maybe, they were all going clubbing with fake IDs and whatnot (well, they were all technically off-age, so real IDs probably).

What he did not see coming is an 8-person gathering held at one of Korea’s richest chaebol’s homes.

Don’t get him wrong; Kim Minseok is a very gracious host. He genuinely seems like a nice guy, cracking a hilarious (and not forced like Jongin’s) joke one after another. Despite clearly being the outsider, he makes sure to involve Baekhyun in all of their conversations, and doesn’t flinch when Baekhyun messes up his answer in his half-assed Korean.

The same, unfortunately, cannot be said about his other party guests.

“What did he say?” Jungmin mutters under his breath.

“Who cares?” Hyunwook shrugs, making Jungmin smirk.

Jungmin is apparently another up-and-coming actor, from what Sehun tells him. They’re both signed with the same agency, which happens to be owned by Minseok’s mother. Which is how they both find themselves here. Hyunwook is the son of some director of one of the countless Kim Industries’ subsidiaries.

“Can I change the song?” Heejin asks Minseok. She’s apparently some random chick the group met in a club a few weeks back, and, according to Sehun, has been extremely obviously trying to get into Minseok’s pants the whole time.

“Sure,” Minseok smiles and passes her his phone.

“Subtle,” Yoona chuckles into Sehun’s ear. She’s an extremely attractive model, also from Sehun’s agency, and Baekhyun doesn’t need anyone to tell him that she’s got a major thirst for Baekhyun’s friend.

“Mm,” Sehun replies with a smirk that makes it plain as day that it’s not a one-sided interest.

Baekhyun’s knuckles whiten as his fingers clench around his wine glass.

“You okay?” Seolhwa asks him, not looking up from her phone. She’s the last person present—another extremely rich chaebol, who likely is going to land in an arranged business marriage with Minseok at one point or another.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun replies. She’s the only other cool person here, Baekhyun thinks to himself. Mainly because she just ignores everything going around her and is instead absentmindedly swiping through Tik Tok.

The evening drags on, they drink more booze, and even though Baekhyun really, really takes his time (he’s never really drunk alcohol before except for the wine tasting on rare occasions at home), he can slowly feel the effect catching up on him.

“Baekhyun, are you really okay?” Sehun asks when Baekhyun knocks the fourth shot of the night into his mouth. He has no clue what he’s drinking at this point, since it all tastes like shit anyway.

“Mm, probably?”

Is he okay?

“Let’s go get some fresh air,” Sehun tells him with a smile.

Baekhyun giggles. Sehun’s so cute when he’s drunk!

Jungmin says something unintelligible to Hyunwook and the two of them burst out laughing. Sehun throws them a strange look as he stands up and helps Baekhyun to his feet.

“Whoa, what the fuck,” Baekhyun says as everything starts spinning around him the moment he gets on his feet, switching back to English unwittingly.

“Take it easy,” Sehun says, offering Baekhyun his arm for support. “Sorry, I should’ve realized that you don’t get to drink often.”

Baekhyun snorts. “More like never.”

After a few seconds, Baekhyun finally manages to find his balance and starts making his way to the balcony with Sehun. He gives Yoona a wide grin—bitch must be so pissed that Sehun’s taking care of him instead.

But she doesn’t even look in Baekhyun’s direction. Welp.

Sehun leads him to the balcony. As soon as the door swings open, Baekhyun lets out a relieved sigh. Even though it’s kinda hot, the outside air is still kind of refreshing.

“Are you uncomfortable?” Sehun asks him suddenly.

“Me?” Baekhyun grins. “Why?”

“You just seemed out of it for a bit,” Sehun shrugs.

Baekhyun feels a warm feeling spreading inside him. “No, not at all! I’m just really happy to be here.” With you, he adds mentally. Or did he say it out loud? He has no idea.

“Okay,” Sehun smiles, “just… don’t force yourself to do anything you don’t want, okay?”

“Sure!” Baekhyun nods enthusiastically.

Maybe this night is not so bad, after all. Sehun’s worried for him; how precious is that?

Unfortunately for Baekhyun, however, his feeling of happiness is very short-lived. As soon as they return, the guys start playing some weird drinking game Baekhyun’s never heard of. He proceeds to lose the first four rounds, and four shots later, he can barely even register what’s going on around him.

“Baekhyun!” someone’s voice calls his name. “You… in?”

Baekhyun stares blankly at the ceiling. Whoever designed Minseok’s interior must have been a genius. He never knew that this particular shade of beige could reflect light so well. He really should pay attention to ceilings when looking at prospective college housing.

“... think… out….”

“Seolhwa… him… you?”

“No!”

“Let’s play… dare....”

Why is everyone talking so quietly? He can barely hear what they’re saying. Grunting, Baekhyun averts his gaze from the ceiling and looks at the group again.

“You… truth or dare… us?” Sehun asks.

Baekhyun shakes his head. Perhaps he’s not in the best state of mind to be sharing truths tonight.

He watches the bottle spin once, twice, eleven times before he gets tired of it. Those guys seem to still seem to be perfectly fine. How come he’s so… weird and giddy? Is this what being drunk feels like?

“... water?”

Baekhyun opens his eyes that he doesn’t even realize have been closed. Seolhwa’s standing above him, a half-empty glass in her hand.

“Thanks,” Baekhyun murmurs and takes the glass from her.

“Easy,” she says when Baekhyun almost drops it.

“Haha, no, I’m fine!” Baekhyun grins. To prove it, he takes a nice and long sip from the glass before carefully putting it down on the floor next to him. His eyes feel so heavy. He just wants to close them again and ignore everything.

“Right,” she laughs. Baekhyun notices she’s got a light tint of pink on her cheeks.

“You like drinking?” he barks out.

“What?” she raises her eyebrow. “Umm, yeah? Wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

Baekhyun turns his neck around to look at the rest of the guys again. The two weird guys are talking in a hushed tone to Heejin, who looks like she just wants to murder someone. Minseok is casually chilling on another sofa, sipping from a very expensive-looking bottle of wine.

Sehun and Yoona are nowhere to be found.

“Um, where’s… Sehun?” he asks lamely.

Before Seolhwa can answer, Baekhyun hears a door open. Curious, he turns his neck in the direction of the noise. Sehun appears from the bathroom, buttoning up his shirt. Three seconds later, Yoona comes out as well, her hair disheveled and her make-up hurriedly fixed.

Baekhyun thinks he’s going to vomit.

“Oh, Baekhyun’s up?” Sehun asks, grinning.

“Yeah, he just woke up,” Seolhwa nods. “He’s wasted. I don’t think he’ll be able to move.”

Baekhyun’s stomach twists and he makes a gagging noise.

“Uh-oh,” Seolhwa grimaces. “Um, Sehun, can you help him to the toilet? I think he’s gonna puke.”

Before Baekhyun knows what’s going on, he’s on his feet again. Someone really strong and muscular and smelling strangely like Sehun (not that Baekhyun  _ knows _ what Sehun smells like, mind you) is holding him up and leading him to the restroom.

“It’s gonna be fine, Baekhyun,” Sehun mutters, his voice so deep and sexy that Baekhyun can’t help but giggle.

Ten seconds later, Baekhyun’s head is propped over the toilet bowl. He’s staring at the water, suddenly wondering whether it spins clockwise or counterclockwise in Korea.

His eyes catch a glimpse of the trash can next to it, a used condom lying proudly at the very top.

Baekhyun throws up.

❊ ❊ ❊

The first thing on Baekhyun’s mind as he wakes up is that his entire body fucking hurts. The second thing is that the mattress he’s lying on is just far too soft. Ugh. Definitely not his mattress, and not his hotel mattress, either.

Baekhyun slowly opens his eyes (because they fucking hurt, too) and tries to make sense of his situation. He’s got no recollection of falling asleep whatsoever. The last thing he remembers from the previous night—right. The toilet.

Groaning, Baekhyun slowly sits up on the bed and rubs his eyes. He takes a look around. The room looks familiar, but it’s definitely not his hotel room. It’s rather small, and there’s not that much room in it. There’s a desk with a nice PC setup, a closet, and the bed he’s lying in.

Baekhyun looks at the bed and shrieks. There’s a very positively nude Sehun lying next to him.

“Morning,” Sehun groans. He’s lying on his stomach, blanket barely covering his legs, and Baekhyun can see all of his backside and buttocks.

Embarrassment kicks in and Baekhyun immediately averts his eyes before they see more things they can’t unsee.

“Um, hi,” Baekhyun says, his voice hoarse. There’s a weird sticky and dry feeling in the back of his throat, and his breath  _ stinks _ . What the fuck happened last night?

“Fuck,” Sehun curses almost inaudibly. “I was supposed to be at school three hours ago. Remind me never to party on a Sunday again.”

In full panic mode, Baekhyun checks his own body. Fortunately, his clothes are still on… or not. He doesn’t recognize the shorts, and the T-shirt is two sizes too big and he’s pretty sure  _ not _ what he was wearing to the party.

“Fuck this,” Sehun curses again. He grabs his phone and calls someone. “Hi, hyung… yeah, I’m wasted… sorry, I know, but it was Minseok-hyung… yeah, again… yeah, that works, tell her I’m filming a commercial… thanks, you’re the best… see ya in a few.”

“You’re… you’re skipping?” Baekhyun asks.

“No point in going now,” Sehun replies. “Can I have my blanket back, please? You hogged it all to yourself last night.”

“S-sure,” Baekhyun replies and lets go of the blanket.

“Um, I think I’ll nap for another hour or so,” Sehun says. “I went to bed like three hours ago. You, sir, are wild as fuck.”

“What?!” Baekhyun yelps, mortified. Did… did they… no way, right? After all, Sehun and Yoona….

“Remind me to never take you drinking again,” Sehun continues. “Anyway, feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen. I think I still have some bread left… if not, there’s eggs and stuff. And coffee. Sorry, but I’m really tired, I don’t think I can get up right now and make breakfast.”

“No, it’s okay, just… sleep,” Baekhyun says quietly. Clearing his throat, he stands up and gets out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

The living room looks like a wreck. There are three bottles of soju and four cans of beer on the floor, several bags of Cheetos in various states of emptiness on the kitchen counter, and there are clothes scattered everywhere—Baekhyun spots his jeans on the sofa, and his button-up draped over the rice cooker.

Sehun’s underwear is hanging from the doorknob to the bedroom.

Baekhyun feels nauseous again.

He quickly changes back to his own clothes. His wallet and phone are both in his jeans, luckily. Biting his lip, Baekhyun tidies the place up a little bit. He throws out all the trash and neatly folds Sehun’s clothes and leaves them on the sofa. Once he’s done, he heads for the exit.

He really shouldn’t have come here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, okay >.< eventually, in chapter 58, you'll find out what happened xD anyway, there's only one more chapter for Korea trip, and then we're going full-steam ahead with college, and finally Chanyeol can make an appearance. I've been dying to include him. And Jongdae. Also, can I just say, I AM SO HAPPY FOR JONGDAE RN-
> 
> Okay I'll stop. Thanks for reading, commenting, and leaving kudos <3


	11. Chapter 11

“... and this is the second bedroom,” Mr. Garcia says as he swings the door open. Baekhyun squints his eyes—Jongin’s really bad at holding the phone still, so it takes him a while to really get a sense of what the room looks like. It’s small, about ten-by-fifteen feet, and totally empty. Just like the rest of the apartment.

“As you can see, the floor was replaced just last year, and there’s a fresh layer of paint on the walls, after… well…  _ anyway _ , it’s a very nice and  _ clean _ apartment that you simply cannot beat at this price,” Mr. Garcia concludes.

“What do you think, Baekhyun?” Jongin asks.

“I’m sorry, but $2100 a month is still over our budget,” Baekhyun says slowly. “I mean, there’s no furniture at all. We’ll have to get our own, and that’s gonna cost a ton.”

“Tell you what,” Mr. Garcia says, “I can lower the price by a hundred bucks, but only because I know you two. I can’t go lower than that. I could be offering this apartment to folks from Oracle for three hundred more!”

Baekhyun bites his lip. He  _ knows _ it’s a good deal. A two-bedroom apartment just one block away from his school  _ and _ Jongin’s workplace is a dream come true for every incoming student. The price is not even that bad, compared to the other listings Baekhyun’s seen. And Mr. Garcia’s always been nice, so Baekhyun doubts he’s trying to scam them or anything.

“What about you, Jongin?” Baekhyun says. “How do you feel about it?”

Baekhyun could deal with it. The cost of the rent would be covered by his parents, and he’d only have to make enough for living expenses and utilities. But Jongin—he’d have to cover everything by himself.

“Well,” Jongin says after a pause, “I guess I’d be fine with it.”

Baekhyun takes a deep breath. “I guess we’ll take it, Mr. Garcia.”

“Wonderful!” the older man grins. “Well, I know you’re abroad right now, so I guess we can wait with the contract and everything. When did you say you’re returning?”

“Next Tuesday, sir,” Baekhyun replies.

“That’s fine then,” Mr. Garcia nods. “Just text me whenever you’re back and we can take care of the deposit and stuff.”

“Will do, sir,” Baekhyun nods.

They exchange some more pleasantries, and five minutes later, Jongin finally walks out of the apartment.

“Well, so that’s that,” Baekhyun says.

“Right,” Jongin agrees. “How’s Sehun?”

Of course he’d ask that. Baekhyun clears his throat. “Uh, we hung out over the weekend.”

“Really?” Jongin asks with a raised eyebrow. “Did you… you know,  _ confess _ ?”

“No,” Baekhyun winces. “What the fuck? Why would I do that?”

“You said you’re gonna come clean,” Jongin shrugs.

“I said  _ eventually _ I will,” Baekhyun corrects him. “Besides… it’s not like I have any chance anyway.”

“Why?”

“He… he’s into girls.”

“He might be bisexual.”

“I doubt it.”

“There’s always a possibility.”

“Are you saying that because you made out with him?”

Jongin’s eyebrow twitches. “He told you about that?”

“... maybe?”

Jongin laughs. “Dude, we were like thirteen and horny as fuck!”

“Exactly,” Baekhyun nods. “Did that experience make you bisexual?”

“... no,” Jongin admits. “But, I mean, I don’t  _ mind _ kissing a guy.”

“Oh, I know that very well,” Baekhyun says with pursed lips.

“Right,” Jongin mutters, looking away. “Still, I think you should tell him. You’ll never know unless you ask.”

Baekhyun knows that Jongin’s right, but he just can’t bring himself to do it. Over the next several days, even though Sehun and he chat constantly, Baekhyun never says anything. They can’t meet face to face because of Sehun’s busy schedule, but they FaceTime practically every night.

Sehun seems completely unfazed by what happened Sunday night, to the point where Baekhyun starts questioning his own memories from the following morning. Did it really happen? Why isn’t Sehun acknowledging  _ anything _ ? He seems to remember everything from that night, and all Baekhyun wants is at least an acknowledgement. Did he say something? Did he  _ do _ something?

The suspense is killing him to the point that when Sehun hits him up for dinner on Friday night, Baekhyun braces himself and decides to ask about that night. However, as they sit down on the cozy patio of the hidden Italian restaurant in Insadong and Sehun looks at him expectantly, Baekhyun’s resolve falters.

“How was your week?” he asks instead.

Grinning, Sehun tells him about all the panic that the upcoming exams are causing among his classmates and how his manager is trying to deal with all the weird fan mail he’s receiving.

“... and then someone sent me a cracked coconut, can you believe that?” Sehun says, shaking his head. “Some people are crazy, man.”

“I still can’t believe that you can just walk around like this and don’t get mobbed by fans all day,” Baekhyun mutters.

“Well, it’s not like I’m  _ that _ popular,” Sehun shrugs. “Besides, most of my fans are stuck in afterschool tutoring all day.”

“Fair point,” Baekhyun condedes.

“You said you’re flying out on Monday, right?” Sehun asks.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods, biting his lip. He’s only got a few short days left to his trip, and he still can’t bring himself to have a real talk with Sehun.

Sehun takes a bite of his pasta. “What time?”

“7 AM,” Baekhyun replies.

“Want me to come with?”

Baekhyun’s fingers clench around his fork. “Um, don’t you have school?”

“I can skip if it’s to see you off,” Sehun shrugs nonchalantly.

Baekhyun hopes his joy is not showing on his face too much. Sehun doesn’t offer to skip classes to see  _ everyone _ off, right? That means Baekhyun is somehow special— _ no _ , Baekhyun thinks to himself, he can’t get ahead of himself. Sehun probably doesn’t see him as anything other than a good friend.

Fuck this. He just  _ has to _ ask.

Before he can change his mind, Baekhyun opens his mouth. “So, are you and Yoona a thing?”

Sehun looks at him quizzically. “What?”

Baekhyun looks down at his plate of penne. “I saw you guys at the party.”

“Oh,” Sehun chuckles. “No, Baekhyun, we’re not together. Just a… special friend.”

Right.

Baekhyun wonders how many  _ special _ friends he has. Actually, no, he doesn’t want to know that. “I see.”

“Can’t afford to be dating right now,” Sehun explains. “Girlfriends are too high maintenance. Plus, if the news broke, that’d probably be the end of my career. So yeah. I have needs, she has needs, that’s it.”

“Right,” Baekhyun nods stiffly. Then that means it wasn’t the first time.

“Don’t worry, Baekhyun, you’re still the most special,” Sehun smiles at him.

Baekhyun drops his fork. What the fuck is  _ that _ supposed to mean?

“Are you okay?” Sehun asks when he notices Baekhyun freezing up.

_ Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, don’t—fuck _ . All he needs to do is ask. One simple question.  _ Did something happen that night? _ But he can’t bring himself to do it.

“Y-yeah, of course,” Baekhyun shakes his head instead. He mentally curses himself for being such a coward. “Just… you saying that means a lot.”

“I’m not exaggerating, though,” Sehun says. “I mean, I know we’ve been more of, like, long distance friends, but you’re the only one I can be myself around. You’re definitely my best friend.”

Baekhyun forces his lips into a smile.

_ And I’m freaking in love with you _ .

❊ ❊ ❊

It’s Sunday evening, and Baekhyun finds himself in the one place he hoped he wouldn’t see again so soon. As he sits on the sofa that for some reason feels so familiar despite him never actually sitting down on it, he wonders just what he’s done to deserve this.

But then again, it’s not like he’s got the willpower to turn down a “Netflix and chill” invitation from the ever-so-naughty Sehun.

“So, what are we watching?” Baekhyun asks as he makes himself comfortable on the left side of the sofa.

Sehun walks over, two tall glasses and an enormous popcorn bowl in his hands. “Promise you won’t laugh.”

“Unless you tell me we’re watching Digimon, then no,” Baekhyun replies.

Sehun’s eyebrow twitches. “... I suppose Digimon is an option, too.”

“Please don’t tell me you invited me over to watch cartoons with you,” Baekhyun deadpans.

“Digimon is an anime, you banana,” Sehun scoffs. “But no, we’re… we’re watching an old Hong Kong movie.”

Baekhyun blinks. “A Hong Kong movie?”

“Yeah, it’s about hacker assassin ladies and—”

“Hacker  _ assassin _ ladies?” Baekhyun cuts him off.

“Just watch,” Sehun grins.

And Baekhyun does. The opening sequence involves some sort of hacker attack that is miraculously stopped by  _ another _ hacker attack, which then leads to the entry of a very beautiful lady dressed in all white into a tall office building, where she proceeds to assassinate the company’s CEO with her sunglasses that are apparently filled with cyanide. After that, she makes a dramatic exit from the building, with a lot of shooting, generic bad guys clutching their legs as they’re shot, all while a very sweet, romantic, and highly-inappropriate-given-the-situation love song plays in the background.

Baekhyun grabs some popcorn and glances in Sehun’s direction. He seems completely immersed in the movie.

“So this is your type of movie?” Baekhyun asks nonchalantly.

“It’s a classic!” Sehun nods. “It’s the reason why my childhood dream was to be a hacker assassin.”

“That’s not a real job,” Baekhyun says.

“I know,” Sehun sighs. “That’s why I’m an actor.”

“Figures.”

The movie goes on, and now the main character’s in a bakery and runs into a hot boy, who looks eerily familiar for some reason. But that’s probably a coincidence, Baekhyun thinks to himself. He doesn’t watch Hong Kong movies, after all.

However, when he comes on screen again ten minutes later, Baekhyun can’t help but comment on it.

“Why does he look so familiar?” Baekhyun frowns.

“You’ve probably seen him on TV recently,” Sehun replies, the corners of his mouth twitching.

“But I don’t—wait, is he Korean?”

“Yep.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen as he realizes something. “Wait, your drama—”

“Yep,” Sehun laughs finally. “It’s Song Seung Heon.”

“No freaking way!” Baekhyun gasps as he examines the screen. “But he looks so  _ young _ !”

“It’s from 2002,” Sehun grins. “When I told him I watched this movie as a kid, he got really shy about it!”

The movie goes on, with the lady detective who’s originally an enemy of the hacker sisters switches sides after a very confusing sequence of betrayals and car chases and a tragic death. Overall, Baekhyun feels like it’s a very cliche plotline that’s also very feminist at the same time, which is strangely contrasted by what seems to be the theme song of the movie, a sappy romantic tune about falling in love with a pretty boy.

At some point, he must have dozed off, because when Baekhyun opens his eyes, the credits are rolling, and his head is resting on something quite warm and firm. Blinking several times, Baekhyun quickly sits back up, his cheeks burning up as he realizes he just used Sehun’s thigh as a pillow.

“S-sorry,” he stutters.

“Don’t even mention it,” Sehun mutters, putting away his phone.

“How long have I been out?” Baekhyun asks, clearing his throat.

“About twenty minutes,” Sehun replies. “You missed the most badass fighting sequence in the history of movies.”

“Ah, really?” Baekhyun winces. “Sorry.”

He’s not really sorry.

“Nah, it’s all good,” Sehun shrugs. “I remember the movie being a bit more fun.”

“Well, you were a kid,” Baekhyun says. “I thought the Last Airbender movie was good when it came out.”

“No way,” Sehun grimaces. “Dude, that movie was terrible!”

“I know  _ now _ ,” Baekhyun laughs.

And Sehun laughs with him, with that strange cackling laughter of his, and Baekhyun immediately thinks back to the first day he met Sehun. The laugh hasn’t changed at all.

_ ‘Why do stars fall down from the sky every time you walk by? Just like me, they long to be close to you.’ _

Great. Now the sappy song’s stuck in his head. However, Baekhyun realizes, it reflects exactly how Baekhyun feels at the moment. There’s something about Sehun that just draws him in like a magnet, and now that they’re sitting there, just inches away from each other, Baekhyun just wants to close the distance and—

Shaking his head, Baekhyun chases those thoughts away. “What time is it? I should probably get going.”

“It’s pretty late,” Sehun nods. “Have you packed up?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods. “I think I’ll just wear this tomorrow to the airport. It’s comfy enough.”

“You know, it’s gonna take forever for you to get to your hotel room,” Sehun says. “We need to call a cab, then you need to drive there… it’s gonna be at least half an hour. And you seem pretty tired.”

“Not gonna lie, I could use a bed right now,” Baekhyun smiles weakly.

“Well, you’re more than welcome to sleep over,” Sehun suggests.

Baekhyun’s smile freezes on his lips. Sleep over at Sehun’s? After what happened the week before?

“I’ll set up an alarm so we don’t oversleep,” Sehun adds. “Then we can go to the hotel, get you checked out, and head to the airport from there.”

Baekhyun should refuse. It’s a terrible idea. Agreeing to a sleepover right now will just get his hopes up that something  _ might _ happen. He probably won’t get any sleep if he’s conscious of the fact that he’ll be sleeping with Sehun in the same bed.

Yet, despite all of that, he finds himself nodding.

“That’d be awesome.”

❊ ❊ ❊

“You really didn’t have to come, you know,” Baekhyun mutters as he loads up his baggage onto the conveyor belt.

“And miss seeing you off?” Sehun says with a raised eyebrow. “No way. You already made me miss your arrival.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Baekhyun says. “You know, make a dramatic entrance. You know how in dramas, the really cool dude always walks into the room and everyone goes, ‘when did you even come back?’”

“Except that didn’t really work out.”

“Nope, I had no idea which room to barge into.”

Sehun laughs at that. As soon as the clerk checks Baekhyun’s bag in, the two of them slowly walk towards Baekhyun’s gate. But even at a turtle pace, it’s not very long until they reach the passport checking station.

Baekhyun takes a deep breath. “Well, I guess this is it.”

“Will you… will you visit again?” Sehun asks slowly.

“Maybe,” Baekhyun says, biting his lip. He stares at Sehun, contemplating his next words, and Sehun stares right back at him. They stand facing each other for several seconds.

Baekhyun’s mind drifts back to last night. Sehun’s a fast sleeper; he practically dozed off the second his head touched the pillow. Baekhyun, however, had no such luck. He spent what must have been hours just looking at Sehun’s face in the dim light from the lights outside, trying to etch everything about his crush into his memory.  The realization that this might be the last time he sees Sehun in person suddenly dawns on him. Of course, if Sehun’s career goes well, Baekhyun will definitely keep seeing Sehun on the screen. But it will be a fictional character on the screen, not this Sehun, not  _ his _ Sehun.

He should say it. He should come clean. He may never have another chance like this.

But he can’t. He can’t bring himself to admit his feelings. He can’t say the L-word.

“I… I’ll miss you,” he says instead.

“I’ll miss you more,” Sehun smiles warmly.

“Don’t be a stranger when you become an A-lister, okay?” Baekhyun mutters as emotions rush to his voice, choking him up.

“Never.”

Baekhyun nods, closing his eyes. He’s not going to get emotional. He’s not going to cry. He’s not—

A pair of hands suddenly pull him into a hug, taking him by surprise. Of course, back in the day, Sehun would hug him a lot—but this one feels different. More personal. More  _ intimate _ .

Baekhyun allows himself to lean into the hug.  _ Just this once _ . His arms wrap around Sehun’s torso and pull the other closer. Sehun doesn’t seem to mind. For those few precious moments, it’s just the two of them , and nothing else exists in Baekhyun’s mind.

But all good things must come to an end, and far too soon, Sehun pulls away. Baekhyun looks him in the eyes, and he can tell that Sehun too is feeling rather poignant.

“Take care, Baekhyun,” he whispers.

“You too, Sehun,” Baekhyun replies. “We’ll… we’ll talk soon.”

“Of course we will.”

Taking a deep breath, Baekhyun forces one last smile on his face before he spins around and walks towards the passport checking counter.

Yet again, he missed his chance, and this time, he feels that he may never get another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here ya go. Lemme go cry in a corner for a second... okay, so, this chapter took painfully long to write. I kept changing my mind about what would happen in the last few days of his vacation, and literally hammered this version over the past 2 hours. I hope you all enjoy it~ Starting from the next chapter, we'll finally start college AU, and there will be plenty of new faces, plotlines, questionable content, and lots and lots of... HOMEWORK CUZ IT'S COLLEGE-
> 
> Okay I'll stop now. Thanks for all the comments and kudos - they really make my day <3 Feel free to follow me on Twitter @victorrotto and feel free to ask any questions over there, I'm more than happy to reply~


	12. Chapter 12

Baekhyun groans when his alarm clock goes off. He picks up his phone, silences the alarm, and sleepily looks at the time. Not liking the small number, he throws the phone to the side and goes back to sleep.

The next alarm that wakes him up refuses to be silenced. When Baekhyun begrudgingly opens his eyes, he’s faced with a stone-faced Jongin, arms crossed, saying unintelligible things in a raised voice. Baekhyun just wants to sleep.

“Five more minutes,” he whines. He was up till 3 AM last night talking to Sehun, and now he just can’t physically get up from bed.

“No,” Jongin says sternly. “You have a 9 AM class, and it’s already 8:30. Get up.”

Of all things Baekhyun imagined living with Jongin to be, for him to act like a responsible mother was definitely not one of them. Baekhyun knows his housemate is right, but he still throws his pillow at him.

“Alright, I’m getting up,” Baekhyun grunts. With much effort, he manages to push himself up. He really, really needs to fix his sleeping schedule.

Over the past month, he’s been staying up till 3 or 4 in the morning every single day, just so he could talk to his crush at least for fifteen minutes on the phone. Sehun got cast in yet another drama, so between his last semester as a high school student and filming, he only had a few minutes spare here and there, and Baekhyun was  _ not _ giving up Sehun’s commute time to his filming site.

“Are you going to work?” Baekhyun asks when he sees Jongin already fully dressed up.

“In a bit,” Jongin says, “I’m headed to the gym first.”

Baekhyun doesn’t understand why Jongin feels like working out before an 8-hour shift is a smart idea, but he doesn’t question the man. Shaking his head, he kicks off his blanket and scrambles to his feet. “Have fun.”

“You too,” Jongin smiles finally. “You’re now officially a college student.”

“Is that a milestone worth celebrating?” Baekhyun winces as he slowly drags his feet to the bathroom.

“For some people certainly,” Jongin shrugs before heading out. “Don’t forget to lock the door!”

“Yes, mom,” Baekhyun rolls his eyes. Seriously, what the hell happened to Jongin over the summer? He’s like a totally changed person. Baekhyun kind of misses the dumb fuckboy Jongin. At least he didn’t nag.

Fifteen minutes later, Baekhyun emerges from the bathroom. He quickly puts on some clothes he prepared the night before, hoping that they look cool enough. He checks his hair in the mirror one last time, and off he goes.

The one thing about living so close to school is that even at 8:50, he still has  _ plenty _ of time to get to his class. Luckily for him, his first class of the day is some introduction biology class in the Science Hall, which is like one of the closest buildings to the apartment.

He doesn’t fully feel the fact that he’s now a college student until he enters the lecture hall. It’s enormous, with at least a hundred seats, if not two. Back in high school, there were never more than twenty kids in a class, but now, he’s just one random fish in the ocean. It’s overwhelming.

He picks a seat kind of in the middle, where he assumes he’ll be able to hear the lecture well and have a pretty good view of the projector. There’s already thirty people in, and everyone’s scattered around—most people, Baekhyun assumes, also feel a bit intimidated by the size of the room.

By the time Professor Steinfield arrives, the hall’s completely packed. The thickset man with a large moustache looks around the room for a few seconds and then sets up his computer.

“Welcome,” he says finally with a booming voice. “This is Bio 101, in case anybody here’s in the wrong room. My name’s Dr. Steinfield, and I’ll be your instructor for this course. Now, before we get started, we’ll need to do attendance.”

Twenty minutes, fifty mispronounced names, and seventeen add code questions later, Baekhyun is ready to go back to bed. He really hopes that this isn’t going to be a thing going forward; surely, there’s gotta be a better way to do attendance than roll call, right?

They spend the rest of the class going over the syllabus, exams, and all those lovely things that Baekhyun swears they could’ve all read at home had  _ Dr. Steinfield _ just bothered to email them a copy of the syllabus beforehand.

And, unfortunately for Baekhyun, it’s the same case with his math class. Honestly, do these clowns get paid for taking attendance or what?

“What’s with that sour look?” Jongin asks him when Baekhyun shows up in the milk tea shop at noon.

“I hate my classes,” Baekhyun grunts. “I miss our old teachers. These guys are total idiots.”

“I mean they’re professors, they gotta be smart, right?” Jongin frowns.

“No, they’re idiots,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “Anyway, I’ll have the usual and some popcorn chicken.”

“Large taro milk tea, fifty percent sugar, less ice, and honey pearls coming right up,” Jongin says cheerfully. “That and a side order of popcorn chicken; your total is $10.75.”

“I still can’t get used to you talking like this,” Baekhyun says with a grimace as he hands Jongin his credit card.

Jongin leans over and says in a very thick and sultry voice, “You’d rather me talk like this to you?”

“Fuck me,” a female voice says behind Baekhyun.

He turns around and sees a girl around his age with a hand over her mouth, blushing hard.

“Whoops, sorry, I didn’t—I’ll just go.”

The girl turns on her heels and runs out of the store.

“Wait!” Jongin tries calling after her, but she’s already gone. “Damnit, Baekhyun, I lost a customer because of you!”

“Sorry,” Baekhyun says, trying his best to suppress laughter. Shaking his head, he grabs his card back from Jongin and sits down at one of the empty tables.

Five minutes later, Jongin comes over with two drinks and a large box of chicken in his hands. “Finally, a break.”

“Aren’t you supposed to eat in the backroom for employees?” Baekhyun asks as he takes his drink from Jongin.

“Eh, whatever,” Jongin shrugs and eats a piece of chicken.

“Hey, that’s my lunch!” Baekhyun protests.

“Whatever,” Jongin repeats with a grin. “But speaking of lunch, I was gonna talk to you in the morning, but I think we need to start cooking meals. I mean, eating out is fun and convenient, but… it’s too expensive.”

“And by us cooking, you mean me,” Baekhyun snorts.

“I mean, do you trust me in the kitchen?” Jongin cocks his head as he points at the box of chicken. “I can barely make these without burning the place down.”

“Point taken,” Baekhyun concedes.

Over the past month and half, ever since he moved out of his parents’ house, his life has been completely flipped around. Things he took for granted, like his mom’s cooking, laundry detergent,  _ bills _ , all suddenly screamed for his attention. Baekhyun knew, of course, that his habit of Safeway croissants for breakfast, Gong Cha chicken for lunch, and Chipotle burritos for dinner would not be sustainable, but he tried to ignore the issue until the last possible moment, and it seems like that moment is now.

“I’ll have to look up some videos on YouTube,” Baekhyun says finally. “At least we have pots and everything.”

His mom graciously gave them a set of high-end kitchenware that she received for her 40th birthday, and the thought of finally making use of it is kind of exciting. Maybe he could make pasta. That sounds easy enough. At the very least, he knows how to boil pasta properly.

Jongin’s break is soon over, but it’s still long enough for him to eat half of Baekhyun’s chicken. In return, Baekhyun forces Jongin to give up his free employee drink, and so by the time he arrives at Sweeney Hall for his English class, he’s happily gulping down a nice and cold mango green tea. The first thing Baekhyun notices about this class is that it’s much smaller in size and looks like an actual classroom that Baekhyun’s used to. There’s just around 30 seats, which is a much more… well,  _ personal _ number of classmates.

Baekhyun picks a window seat this time. Just as he’s about to pull out his notebook to take notes, he’s interrupted when somebody sits down in the seat next to him.

“Baekhyun?!” an excited female voice that sounds eerily familiar squeals. “Oh my god, I didn’t know you also went here!”

Baekhyun turns around and freezes. “Um… Amanda?”

The former cheerleader and Minhee’s public enemy number one grins at him. “I am, like,  _ so excited _ to see someone I know, finally! How have you been? How’s your summer?”

Baekhyun’s pretty sure they’ve talked more in the past 10 seconds than they have in all 4 years of high school together, so her friendliness is a bit unsettling. “Um, it was nice. How about yours?”

“Oh, well, I went on a trip to LA with some of the girls,” Amanda says, clapping her hands. “You know, Nelly, Michelle, Jennifer….”

Oh yeah. The future Karens, as Minhee would call them. Baekhyun definitely  _ knows _ them.

“... and we actually went to Koreatown and had barbecue!” Amanda continues. “Wow, I didn’t know Korean food was, like,  _ so good _ !”

“Ah, yeah, it’s dope,” Baekhyun smiles awkwardly. Can someone save him from her already?

“You know, I’m actually taking Korean as a foreign language,” Amanda says. “Maybe you could help me with that.”

“Are you?” Baekhyun says.

“Yeah, I’m majoring in International Business, so I thought it’d be nice if I spoke another language,” Amanda nods enthusiastically.

Baekhyun wants to ask about Spanish, but then he quickly realizes how racist that would be, so he just nods.

“You know, maybe you could give me your number or something so I can text you if I have questions and stuff.”

Ugh. He does  _ not _ want to keep talking to her. How can the girl not get the hint?

“Yo,” the man in front of Baekhyun suddenly perks up and turns around. He’s also Asian—tall, with a round-ish face, large eyes, and even larger ears. “You want help with Korean?”

“Uh, yeah?” Amanda frowns.

“I’m Chanyeol, Chanyeol Park,” the man introduces himself. “I could definitely give you  _ private lessons _ , if you want.”

“Um, no, thanks,” Amanda says slowly, “Actually, I think I’m good.”

“Okay, cool, suit yourself,” Chanyeol shrugs, but before he turns back around, he gives Baekhyun a playful wink.

“Um, so—”

“Okay, class!” the professor’s voice interrupts her.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Amanda whispers, and Baekhyun just rolls his eyes.

He taps on the shoulder of the man in front of him—Chanyeol—and whispers in a low voice so Amanda can’t hear, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Chanyeol mutters back.

“Welcome to English 101!” the elderly woman at the front says excitedly. She looks like she’s in her early 60s, with short grey hair, tiny glasses, dressed in a pantsuit that shows off just how absurdly  _ thin _ she is. She looks really frail, in Baekhyun’s opinion. “My name is Lisa Keller. You all can just call me Lisa. I’d prefer that, actually, but if you’re uncomfortable with first names, Professor is fine. Just please don’t call me Ms. Keller.

“This is, I’m assuming, your first college-level English class. We’re going to be focusing on analysis and critical thinking for most of the semester, and our focus will be especially on the issues of class, gender, and race, and how these issues shape and form the culture of America.”

Baekhyun’s eyebrow twitches. Really?

“Now, I’m old, as you can see,”  _ Lisa  _ continues, and a few people snicker, “so I’m not very good with technology, so everything in this class will be done on solid paper. And before you ‘OK boomer’ me and call me a climate change denier, at least I make sure all the paper I use is 100% recycled, okay? Now, here are your syllabi—you, handsome sir in the front, can you please hand these out?”

Chanyeol beams at being called handsome and immediately rushes over to help the tiny professor with the giant stack of papers. Baekhyun wonders how she even managed to drag them into the classroom in the first place.

“I’m supposed to do attendance at this point, but let’s have some fun while we do that!” Lisa continues. “I want to get to know you all better, so let’s do a fun thing. Everyone, say your name, two truths, and one lie. I’ll start. My name’s Lisa Keller, I’m lesbian, I love dogs, and I was an underwear model at one point in my life. Who wants to go next?”

Okay, maybe this class won’t be  _ too _ bad, after all.

“Oh, and by the way, the dog thing is a lie, I’m a cat person.”

Definitely not a bad class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yehet, two new(?) characters. Well, one brand new character and one character briefly mentioned in the past. Chanyeol obviously is new, and he's gonna play a pretty important part in the future. Amanda is the girl mentioned early on who had beef with Minhee over her ex-boyfriend. I hinted in the past that she may have a thing for Baekhyun, and here's her subplot kicking off! Hope y'all will enjoy where this goes :3
> 
> Also, I'd just like to re-iterate that whatever happens in this story, at the end of the day, it *will* end up with sebaek as a couple. It's gonna be slow, painful, at times maybe even WTF-esque, but they will end up together. I'm a hardcore sebaek shipper so yeah OTL


	13. Chapter 13

“Yo, you should open a restaurant,” Jongin says as he gobbles down the last of the pasta. “This shit is good!”

“Eh, really?” Baekhyun laughs. “I just followed a YouTube recipe.”

Internally, Baekhyun is just as excited about how the pasta turned out. It’s  _ good _ , and Baekhyun’s not saying it just because he cooked it. He’s so glad he followed the chef’s instructions. Easy, clean, simple. He didn’t even cut himself once!

It’s the third week of classes, and Baekhyun’s finally gotten a hang of cooking. At first, all the measurements and cutting really intimidated him, because he had no idea if adding just a bit too much salt would make his food inedible, but after trying four different dishes, he’s finally relaxed into cooking. And Jongin’s such an enabler—he keeps singing praises of Baekhyun’s food and stroking his ego, and now Baekhyun actually enjoys cooking for the two of them.

He briefly wonders if this was Jongin’s plan all along, to turn Baekhyun into a housewife. Then he shakes his head at the absurd thought.

“So, you have that class with Amanda later, right?” Jongin asks.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun says with a sigh. Honestly, he  _ loves _ the English class. Lisa is just the right amount of sassy to make her class fun despite the  _ incredibly _ boring and dry topics they cover. The only downside to that class is that Amanda keeps talking to him. It’s not that he  _ hates _ her…. Well, he does, but only  _ after _ she started talking his ear off about hanboks. Like, who the hell cares about the proper etiquette of wearing hanboks? He doesn’t, certainly.

At least Chanyeol chimes in and saves the day by oversharing some of his own thoughts on the topics. Baekhyun finds the tall jock hilarious, and he wonders whether Amanda’s noticed that he only says the stupid shit he says to shut her up.

“Alright,” Jongin nods, licking his lips happily, “thanks for the delivery. Gotta clock back in now.”

Baekhyun watches as Jongin grabs the two empty boxes and takes them to the back. Baekhyun starts packing up his stuff as well. He checks the time on his phone; he still has fifteen minutes before his English class starts. He really doesn’t want to get there too early though, so he just continues to sip on his caramel milk tea with his backpack on his shoulder.

He spends the next few minutes watching Jongin take orders from customers. He can’t help but gag at the way Jongin seamlessly flirts with the female clientele while staying completely professional. It’s like there’s two different people in this guy: the good old Jongin that Baekhyun knows, complete with really bad jokes and too easily excited over things, and then there’s…  _ Kai _ , the confident and always charming-the-panties-off-ladies guy that shows up whenever he’s talking to strangers.

“He’s good,” Vivian, Jongin’s coworker, says as she passes by Baekhyun’s table. “Our business has been blooming ever since he started.”

Baekhyun snorts. Of course it has, judging by the unending line of girls that seem to have appeared out of nowhere. And Jongin definitely knows how to work the crowd—he gives each one of his customers a very dashing smile and asks them questions about their day and shit, and it’s all so obviously fake but the girls don’t seem to mind at all.

When another group of sorority girls enters, all of whom not-so-secretly ogle Jongin instead of the menu behind him, Baekhyun takes that as a cue to leave. He’s been taking up space here for far too long anyway. He pats Jongin on the shoulder playfully and heads to his classroom.

“Baekhyun!” Amanda Cortez greets him as soon as he enters the class.

“Hi,” Baekhyun replies back. “Hi, Chanyeol.”

“Wassup,” the tall jock says, fist-bumping Baekhyun when the latter takes his seat. “By the way, do you have Insta?”

“It’s @bbhyunee, with two E’s at the end,” Amanda says. Baekhyun gawks at her. How does she remember his handle?

Chanyeol snickers. Moments later, Baekhyun’s phone goes off with a new follower notification.

“So, Baekhyun,” Amanda says, turning around in her seat, “there’s this party this Friday at this sorority I wanna rush, and I was thinking, would you be interested in going with me?”

Baekhyun frowns. “But I don’t want to rush.”

Chanyeol explodes in laughter while Amanda just gawks at him.

“Holy shit, Baekhyun, you’re slow,” Chanyeol laughs. “She’s asking you out, dude!”

“Oh,” Baekhyun blinks. “Wait, are you?”

“Um, yeah?” Amanda nods.

Baekhyun’s at loss for words. He’s just been asked out. On a date. By a girl. By  _ Amanda Cortez _ of all people. What the hell?

Suddenly, a distant memory comes back to him. All those years ago, Jongin mentioned that she suddenly started talking about Baekhyun after she and Jongin… well, _ did their thing _ . Could it be that she actually had feelings for Baekhyun even back then?

“Well?” Amanda says impatiently.

Baekhyun suddenly feels empathetic to the girl. Just moments ago, he hated her guts for always talking to him about nonsense, but now it all made sense. If she did have a thing for him, and if she had had a thing for him for a while… then she’s just like Baekhyun with Sehun. And she actually had the balls to ask him out.

“Um, Amanda,” he starts slowly. He doesn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he also can’t lead her on, especially since he  _ knows _ this would lead nowhere. “You see… the thing is….”

“Oh, do you already have a girlfriend?” Amanda asks. “Fuck. Shit. Of course you do. I should’ve known. Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“I don’t,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “It’s just that… well… I… I’m not attracted to you. At all.”

“Am I not pretty enough?” Amanda asks, her eyebrow shaking.

“No, it’s not that,” Baekhyun says quickly. “I’m… uh, actually, I’m… well, I’m into guys.”

Chanyeol lets out a loud whistle.

Amanda blinks. “What?”

“Yeah, I just don’t like women,” Baekhyun says with an apologetic smile. “I hope you understand.”

“Oh,” she says. “Right. Never mind. Yeah. Okay.”

She then turns back to face the front of the class, not looking back at Baekhyun even once.

❊ ❊ ❊

As the weeks pass, nothing much changes. Apart from Chanyeol, Baekhyun doesn’t really find any people he could really call friends. Sure, there are a few people he says hi to in class, and then there’s Lukasz and Raj, the two dudes in his project group, but he never really talks to any of them about stuff other than coursework.

He’s kind of a loner.

Amanda completely stops talking to him. Sometimes, Baekhyun swears she’s staring at him weirdly, but whenever he looks in her direction, she just looks away, making Baekhyun wonder if he’s just imagining things that aren’t there.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, is a pretty cool guy. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with Baekhyun being gay. Baekhyun has to admit that he looks forward to English these days, mainly so he could talk to Chanyeol on the way out of class. As the two of them get closer, Baekhyun has to admit that Chanyeol seems like a genuinely nice person.

And he’s pretty cute, alright. Sadly, as Chanyeol clarifies right away, he’s completely and utterly straight.

At home, Baekhyun and Jongin fall into a routine. Baekhyun cooks, Jongin washes the dishes. Baekhyun does the laundry, Jongin takes out the trash. Baekhyun vacuums the apartment, Jongin cleans the bathroom. So far, it’s working fine for both of them.

The one chore they share is grocery shopping. On Jongin’s days off, they drive to Trader Joe’s and Target, the same ones they’ve been frequenting since their high school days. It’s just a ten-minute drive from their apartment, so it’s pretty convenient; however, as time passes by and Baekhyun’s too lazy to drive up to Palo Alto on weekends to pick up things from home (plus, he’s grown rather fond of his lazy do-nothing Sundays), their supplies of Korean products start to dwindle, and before long, Baekhyun finds himself in the passenger’s seat of his own Honda Civic as Jongin drives them both to the closest Korean market.

“Did you grab any bags?” Baekhyun asks as they pull into the parking lot.

“Yeah, they’re in the trunk,” Jongin replies. “I’ll bring them. Can you grab a cart?”

“Sure,” Baekhyun nods.

As they enter the store, Baekhyun feels his shoulder stiffen. For some reason, being here, surrounded by everything Korean, with the latest K-pop tracks blasting from the speakers, he feels like he’s back in Korea. He shakes off the strange feelings and heads to the produce section.

“Hey, should we make baked potatoes?” Jongin grins as he grabs a package of sweet potatoes.

“Sure,” Baekhyun shrugs. Jongin cheerfully adds them into the cart.

They slowly advance through the grocery store. They ogle at all the thinly sliced black pork belly and beef brisket before deciding that they simply cannot afford it and instead get a bunch of chicken thighs (why they were so dirt cheap in Asian markets, Baekhyun would never know). Baekhyun of course buys a giant container of kimchi, while Jongin loads up the cart with banana milk.

“What?” he shrugs when Baekhyun gives him the look.

“Does that go with your gym diet?” Baekhyun asks with a snicker.

“It’s banana milk,” Jongin deadpans. “It goes with  _ every _ diet.”

Baekhyun shakes his head and Jongin’s weird obsession with banana milk and moves on with the cart. They move onto the canned food section, where they load up on canned tuna, before finally heading towards the dreaded snacks section.

“Choco pies!” Jongin exclaims excitedly when he spots several boxes of the famed treat.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. Sometimes, he really wonders whether Jongin suffers from a split-personality disorder or something. One second, he’s a totally serious, almost even  _ insightful _ person, and the next he reverts to the most innocent child Baekhyun’s ever seen in his life.

“How the hell do you manage to stay in shape with all that sugar,” Baekhyun mutters under his breath when Jongin grabs not one but  _ four _ boxes of choco pies.

“Oh, look!” Jongin says, pointing at some boxes of Pepero sticks. “Something for you, Baekhyun.”

“Why would I want—”

Baekhyun’s mouth freezes when he sees  _ why _ Jongin’s pointing at them. At a quick glance, it’s just a box of white chocolate-covered sticks. Right there, on the front cover next to the image of the sticks, is an image of a platinum-haired Sehun, playfully biting on one of them while winking at the camera.

Holy shit.

“When did he even become a model for Lotte?” Jongin asks. “I mean, it hasn’t even been a year since he started working, right?”

It seems like Baekhyun has seriously underestimated how popular his friend has become. Wordlessly, Baekhyun picks up the entire stock and drops them into the cart.

“Whoa, easy there,” Jongin laughs. “You know that’s gonna be at least a hundred bucks, right?”

“Well, I’ll just eat ramyun for the rest of the month,” Baekhyun shrugs.

He grabs a box and quickly snaps a picture of it. Satisfied with how it came out (and making sure the other 30 boxes in his cart are  _ not _ showing), he then sends the picture to Sehun with a caption, ‘ _ Look what i found （＾ω＾） _ ’

The cashier gives them a questioning look when they check out. He supposes the ahjumma doesn’t approve of a full cart of sweets and banana milk. Jongin pretends he’s got nothing to do with Baekhyun the whole time, just casually chilling by the counter on his phone while Baekhyun bags everything.

By the time they get home, it’s getting pretty late, and Baekhyun’s too tired to make an effort in the kitchen. So, true to his word, they end up having ramyun for dinner. With a side of kimchi, of course, because it’s never too much effort to take out some delicious fermented cabbage and dump it into an extra-hot pot of noodles.

Long after dinner, Baekhyun’ in his bed, trying to find something to entertain him before he calls it a night. He checks Messenger, and Sehun still hasn’t seen the picture Baekhyun sent him.

Last time they talked, Sehun said that the filming schedule’s picked up, and that his character suddenly got a lot more parts because the writer apparently changed her mind about the plot, so he’s on set every free minute he’s got. Baekhyun supposes that’s a good thing, because Sehun deserves all the exposure he can get, but at the same time, it sucks, because now they don’t even have time for quick 5-minute calls anymore.

It then hits him just how lonely he’s feeling. With Sehun once again busy and out of the picture, Baekhyun really doesn’t have many people left to talk to. Minhee and he are still only on let-me-just-comment-under-your-picture terms, Eunjin takes days to reply to anything, and Jongin… well, Jongin’s probably out getting laid somewhere.

He briefly considers chatting up Chanyeol, but he quickly shakes off the idea. Randomly messaging your classmate at 11 PM does  _ not _ sound like the brightest idea. Especially now that he’s come out to Chanyeol as well. He still doesn’t know if anything’s changed—Chanyeol still talks to him, sure, but he doesn’t want to leave the impression that he’s trying to make a move on Chanyeol or something. He does not need to ruin his  _ only _ college relationship.

Baekhyun lets out a tired sigh. He just wants to chat with someone, to be distracted for a bit.

Maybe he could go on one of the group chat apps.

He quickly googles ‘chatting app’ and looks at the results. Most of them seem okay, but they’re all… plain. They all claim to be for socializing and whatnot, but nothing sets any of them apart. Baekhyun mindlessly scrolls through the results until one catches his eyes.

It’s an adult webcam chatting site.

Baekhyun gulps. Of course, he knows that camming is a thing, but he’s never actually visited a site like this before. But maybe this is exactly the kind of distraction Baekhyun needs.

Holding his breath, Baekhyun clicks on the link. Immediately, he’s taken to a screen with small tiles, all with people in various states of undress in front of their webcam. It’s all quite overwhelming, and Baekhyun doesn’t know where to look first. He finds a ‘create an account’ button and quickly creates one for himself. Then, he sets up his preferences and starts browsing.

After a few seconds, he finds a quite attractive blond with some of the most piercing grey eyes Baekhyun’s ever seen. He enters the room and settles down to observe.

“—so I’m just, like, are you for real?” the cammer, tyler_0198, says. His voice’s rather nice, too. “Like, who the hell does she think she is? I mean, just because she’s a fucking professor doesn’t give her the right to just call me out in front of the entire class, right? Ugh, sorry for ranting.”

Baekhyun looks at the chat. Everyone’s literally just spamming ‘show us ur dick’ and ‘can i see ur feet pls’ and ‘oh ur so hot bby.’

Baekhyun purses his lips. He quickly types in a message himself.

“Um, let me see,” tyler_0198 says, “‘show me your feet’—babe, that’s 25 tokens. What else do we have… ‘can you flex your muscles?’ Again, it’s in the tip menu, guys, all of those requests…. ‘Your professor sucks balls.’ Oh, yes, she does, thank you, blt_sammich! Oh, that’s a cool name. Do you like BLT sandwiches?”

Baekhyun grins and readies his fingers. This definitely feels like the kind of distraction he needs right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baekhyun's going through some college blues, but don't worry, it'll all get better(?) soon~ Also, we're slowly approaching the end of the story. Not sure how many chapters there are left exactly, but I'd say around 10-ish. There's a few plot lines left, and I really don't want to rush them too much, but at the same time, I don't want to drag the story on and on forever. I've written the ending already, so now it's only a matter of filling in all the blanks for the stuff that comes before that.


	14. Chapter 14

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : Yo bro did you finish the paper?? _

**_bbhyunee_ ** _ : um, yeah, why? ≖‿≖ _

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : So I read this article like 4 times now and I still dont understand shit. _

**_bbhyunee_ ** _ : it was a pretty hard read… _

**_bbhyunee_ ** _ : it talks about the social injustice of 1940s hollywood _

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : Yeah, I know that… but like I dont understand how Im supposed to contrast it to present day hollywood and shit… _

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : Are you busy?? _

**_bbhyunee_ ** _ : not really, why ◎ܫ◎ _

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : Im on the 4th floor of the library, send help plssssssssssss _

**_bbhyunee_ ** _ : ok imma be there in 10 _

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : Whoa thanks bro! _

**_bbhyunee_ ** _ : （＾ｖ＾） _

Sighing, Baekhyun gets up from his bed and puts on some casual clothes. He only has one morning class on Tuesdays, and since he had no assignments due for the rest of the class, he figured he’d just chill and catch up on some Knowing Brothers episodes, but he supposes hanging out with an actual human being might be more fun.

Plus, it’s Chanyeol who hit him up first, so that’s totally cool, right?

Exactly ten minutes later, Baekhyun exits the elevator on the “relaxation” floor of the 8-story library. The fourth floor is the only student-only floor where everyone can be as loud as they want; mostly students working on group projects or looking to chill for a while come here, while the upper floors all have a no-talking rule so that students who need to focus are not disturbed.

He finds Chanyeol sitting alone at one of the round tables near the Xbox station. The moment the latter spots Baekhyun, his face lights up, and he waves Baekhyun over excitedly.

“Hey!” Chanyeol grins at him.

“Hi,” Baekhyun replies.

“Thanks so much, bro,” Chanyeol says as Baekhyun takes a seat across from him. “I’ve been here for like two hours now, just trying to understand this fucking article, man.”

Chanyeol then pulls out a printed copy of the article, and Baekhyun’s surprised that, contrary to his belief, Chanyeol actually  _ did _ do the work. He doesn’t know why—probably because the other is such a typical jock; tall, ripped, always a bro, that Baekhyun kind of assumed that….

Well, clearly Baekhyun was wrong. He actually took a lot of notes on the article, underlined all the important ideas, and even had several sticky notes on some pages of the article with longer notes.

Baekhyun’s actually kind of impressed.

They spend the next half-hour dissecting the article idea by idea. Baekhyun does his best to let Chanyeol try to interpret the author’s ideas and claims himself and only gives Chanyeol follow-up questions; after all, Chanyeol will have to write a response essay to this, so he needs to really understand the paper himself.

“Dude, you’re the best,” Chanyeol says finally when they get to the end of the article. “Like, nobody’s ever explained shit to me this way before.”

Baekhyun has to fight back the smile at the compliment. “Ha, thanks.”

“Nice, now all I need to do is write this paper,” Chanyeol sighs. “That’s gonna take forever. I hate writing. Hey, if I finish it tonight, do you think you could proofread it for me before class tomorrow?”

“Um, yeah, sure,” Baekhyun agrees. “As long as you send it before midnight, it should be fine.”

“Thanks!” Chanyeol grins. “I really appreciate it. Can I buy you a coffee or something?”

Baekhyun grins. “How about some boba?”

❊ ❊ ❊

Slowly but surely, Baekhyun’s getting the hang of being a college student. By the time midterms hit him, he thinks he’s now perfectly blended in with the overall college atmosphere—baggy pants, a plain T-shirt, and a backpack always hanging from just one shoulder; it’s the typical “I just woke up don’t bother me” look that practically everyone else is donning.

Well, everyone except for the Greek kids. Chanyeol’s always sporting a tight tank top and cargo shorts, showing off his thick biceps to everyone looking his way, and  _ always _ bro-ing everyone he talks to—as Baekhyun found out, he’s trying to rush the biggest fraternity on campus. It’s kind of cool, actually, because Baekhyun’s always been interested in what the whole Greek life thing was about, but didn’t really have any interest in experiencing it himself, so having Chanyeol tell him all about his experience was rather intriguing.

He’s also finally made some other friends. In his Econ class, he befriended Julian Hernandez, a stocky Colombian man who cracks some of the worst dad jokes Baekhyun’s ever heard, but is still very interesting to talk to. In Math, he speaks to Terry Welsh and Hana Tran, who both turn out to be huge fans of K-dramas.

Speaking of K-dramas, Sehun’s new drama finally starts airing mid-October. It’s another instant hit, and there’s no wonder; birth secrets, infidelity, identity theft, murder—this drama’s got it all and some. Sehun plays the young version of the main character, so he actually appears quite a bit in the first five episodes, and then makes cameos here and there in the rest in flashback sequences. As expected, his popularity soars; by Veteran’s Day, he’s amassed over 800k followers on Instagram, which is pretty insane, considering he’s only done 3 dramas and 2 variety shows so far.

“I turned on notifications for Instagram the other day,” Sehun tells him one day while he quickly devours dinner during a shooting break. “I think my phone overheated.”

“Sucks to be popular,” Baekhyun grunts sarcastically.

“Dude, for real, though,” Sehun exhales. “I mean, it’s nice to be recognized from time to time, but nowadays, even when I just go buy groceries, I get at least a dozen people asking to take pictures with me. It’s getting tiring to keep smiling all the time.”

“I bet the money must be nice though,” Baekhyun sighs.

“Well, I can’t deny that,” Sehun laughs, but then his expression stiffens. “Though, I’m not sure it was really worth it. The other day, there were several girls standing in front of the apartment building waiting for me when I came home. Luckily, the security guard didn’t let them inside, but it was kinda scary. Like how did they even figure out where I live?”

“Damn, you already have stalker fans?” Baekhyun grimaces. “Maybe you should move out.”

“Yeah, my manager agrees,” Sehun sighs. “He’s looking for a new place with extra security. But I really like this place though.”

“Wouldn’t a bigger apartment be better?” Baekhyun asks thoughtfully.

“But we share so many memories together here,” Sehun says with a wink, making Baekhyun choke on the choco pie he was just eating.

“Just when I think you can’t get any cornier,” Baekhyun shakes his head in disbelief, though, on the inside, Sehun’s comment makes him feel all sorts of fuzzy.

“But you love it,” Sehun laughs.

Baekhyun grins along, though he secretly wonders if Sehun knows just  _ how much _ Baekhyun loves it.

“Well, gotta go back to fix my make up and do a few more shots,” Sehun says, putting down his half-finished sandwich. “Talk to you later, Baekhyun!”

“Yeah, good luck,” Baekhyun smiles. “Go get the girls!”

But conversations like this one are few and far between. More often than not, they just text each other, and there’s hours in between messages due to their conflicting schedules. Baekhyun catches himself multiple times staring at his phone screen, waiting futilely for a notification to arrive.

Whenever that happens, he forcibly distracts himself with his new adult chatroom life. Over the past couple of weeks, Baekhyun’s found himself a confidant in Tyler. He learns that the cammer is a college freshman from Wisconsin, and the two of them quickly bond over their shared hatred for graded online discussions. It’s definitely been an interesting experience to casually chat with this hot dude about the idiocy of online classes all while the latter is jerking off on camera for his other two hundred viewers.

It’s kind of weird, but for some reason, Baekhyun feels more comfortable sharing his bottled up feelings with this random dude on the Internet than his real-life friends. Minhee and him now talk to each other again, somewhat, but it’s mostly to complain about school and whatnot. They haven’t had a real talk for months now, and neither wants to address what happened at the end of May. Eunjin and he were never tight enough to share troubles and emotions, and Jongin… well, Jongin’s got enough on his plate as is.

“Dude, at this point, when am I ever going to save up enough money to do anything?” Jongin complains one evening over dinner, poking his rice with his chopsticks absentmindedly.

Baekhyun really feels sorry for his friend. He feels like it’s his fault for goading Jongin into staying with him instead of Carlos. Jongin’s basically living paycheck-to-paycheck at this point. “Maybe you could get a different job.”

“I still prefer serving tea to flipping burgers, thank you very much,” Jongin grunts.

“Well, you could do, I don’t know, modeling or something,” Baekhyun shrugs. “I mean, you’ve got the face and body for it.”

“You think so?” Jongin asks.

Baekhyun stares at him. “Are you fishing for compliments?”

“... maybe?”

“Yes, Kim Jongin, you’re hot as fuck, happy?” Baekhyun says, shaking his head.

That gets a laugh out of Jongin at least. “I thought I wasn’t your type?”

“I never said you weren’t,” Baekhyun shrugs.

“Wait, really?” Jongin blinks, looking confused. “Um, is there—”

“But I have my eyes for someone else,” Baekhyun cuts him off before the conversation even goes there.

“Right,” Jongin mutters. “So, how’s Sehun doing?”

“You know you could just ask him yourself,” Baekhyun points out. “He still uses his old Facebook.”

“I don’t know, I feel like an ass,” Jongin says, scratching his neck. “I haven’t talked to him since graduation.”

“Talk to him,” Baekhyun says. “He’s… he misses us. I think. That’s what it feels like every time I talk to him. So just talk to him. He’ll be happy to hear from you.”

Jongin looks up from his food. “You think so?”

“Of course,” Baekhyun nods. “Anyway, mom wants to know if you want to come over on turkey day.”

Jongin’s face hardens. “Oh. Right. Um, I… I don’t think so.”

“Really?” Baekhyun frowns. “Dude, it’s Thanksgiving. There’s gonna be food. A lot of food. You love food.”

“Yeah, but, you know, I just… I don’t really feel like….” His voice trails off.

“Okay,” Baekhyun bites his lip. “Well, you know, there’s still a week left, so just let me know if you change your mind. You know you’re welcome at our house any time, right?”

“Yeah,” Jongin nods with a forced smile. “Tell your mom that I really appreciate the offer, and that I’m sorry I can’t attend.”

“Alright.”

Jongin seems really down for the remainder of the dinner, and Baekhyun can’t help but feel like his Thanksgiving talk is to blame. He should’ve known that a family event like that would be a touchy subject—especially since that whole Chuseok fiasco went down so recently.

As Baekhyun gets ready to call it a night, his phone suddenly buzzes.

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : Bruh _

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : My friend is throwing a party, wanna come? _

Baekhyun stares at his phone screen for a second. He’s about to say no—after all, Baekhyun doesn’t do college parties, especially not frat parties that this one surely is—but then he stops himself. Maybe a party is what Jongin needs to lift his spirits?

**_bbhyunee_ ** _ : can i bring a friend? _

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : Sure! Half of campus is coming anyway xD _

**_loey_chan_ ** _ : Lemme text you the address. It’s by the 7-11 near campus village. _

**_bbhyunee_ ** _ : ok thx o(^▽^)o _

Taking a deep breath, Baekhyun knocks on Jongin’s door.

“Yeah?” Jongin calls out from the inside, emerging seconds later in nothing but his sweatpants.

“Um,” Baekhyun clears his throat, letting his eyes roam his roommate’s body for just one second. “There’s a party down on 6th, wanna go?”

Jongin tilts his head. “Like, right now?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods. “My classmate just texted me. Apparently everyone’s coming.”

“Is it like a huge frat party or something?” Jongin frowns.

“Probably?” Baekhyun shrugs. “Come on, let’s have some fun for once.”

“But don’t they usually have entrance fees—”

“Jongin,” Baekhyun interrupts him. “Let’s  _ go. _ ”

“Alright, mom,” Jongin sighs. “Let me get ready.”

Shaking his head, Baekhyun heads back to his room. Now, what the hell is he supposed to wear? He assumes he should dress at least a bit nicely, but he really doesn’t want to overdo it.

In the end, he settles for a black and white shirt and skinny-fit black pants. He thinks it’s stylish enough while not drawing too much attention with bright colors to himself. It’s not like he actually wants to hook up or anything, right?

Jongin takes noticeably longer to get ready, but when he walks out of his room, Baekhyun’s jaw drops. Jongin’s always been cute, there’s no point arguing that, but  _ damn _ , he looks really good in those white pants and the green flower-patterned shirt. And he purposefully doesn’t button it all the way up, giving everyone a tiny sneak peek at those chiseled muscles hiding underneath it.

“Goddamn, Jongin,” Baekhyun whistles.

Jongin sticks his tongue out. “It’s Kai today.”

Ah, yes. Split personality disorder.

As the two of them head to the party together, Baekhyun’s slowly getting chicken feet. He’s not a party person. He doesn’t do well in large social gatherings,  _ especially _ if it involves booze—and he’s pretty sure this party does. Then again, they probably will have people watching out for underage drinking, so maybe he’ll be fine?

By the time they reach Sweeney Hall, Baekhyun can already hear the music blasting across the street and the laughter filling the night air. Chanyeol wasn’t kidding—there are people  _ everywhere _ on that block. People are drinking and dancing outside like no one’s business, and Baekhyun briefly wonders how anyone living on this block is okay with this and not calling cops for noise complaints.

“Baekhyun!” a deep voice calls out for him. Moments later, Chanyeol appears, two cups of what suspiciously looks like beer in his hands. “Wassup!”

“Hi,” Baekhyun greets him. “Um, this is Chanyeol, my classmate. And this is Jong—I mean, Kai, my housemate.”

“Nice meeting you, man,” Chanyeol grins at Jongin and hands him one of the cups. “And this one’s for you, bro.”

“Thanks,” Baekhyun smiles as he takes the cup. “But what is this?”

“Ah, just root beer,” Chanyeol laughs.

Of course. Baekhyun shakes his head at his own stupidity and takes a sip. It tastes a bit strange but it’s delicious. “Um, is there like an entrance fee or something?”

“Nope,” Chanyeol shakes his head. “Come on, let’s go inside!”

The inside of the house is  _ packed _ . There’s people everywhere, dancing, playing beer pong, making out—Baekhyun’s a bit uncomfortable, and it’s really hot inside, but he and Jongin follow after Chanyeol, who leads them to the spacious living room.

“Kai!” someone exclaims excitedly. Baekhyun turns around and sees  _ Amanda _ of all people.

“Oh, hey,” Jongin smiles at her.

“Wow, I haven’t seen you in so long!” the former cheerleader says. “How have you been? What brings you here?”

“I came here with Baekhyun, actually,” Jongin says mischievously. He knows  _ all _ about how she’s been all over Baekhyun at the beginning of the semester.

“Oh,” Amanda says, doing a double-take. “Um, it was nice seeing you. I’m gonna go look for a friend. Bye!”

With that, she disappears in the crowd. Before Baekhyun can even ask Jongin what all that was about, some other girls swarm his roommate, who seems to be enjoying himself  _ very much _ at this point.

“Bro, wanna play some games?” Chanyeol yells loudly so Baekhyun hears him over the blaring music.

“Uh, sure!” Baekhyun replies.

Chanyeol now leads him up the stairs into one of the rooms, where there’s already a bunch of people huddled around the TV.

“Bro!” one of the dudes greets Chanyeol with a fist bump. “Wanna play Smash?”

“Wanna give it a try?” Chanyeol asks Baekhyun with a grin.

“Uh, sure?”

The next few hours are a blur to Baekhyun. They take turns playing various games. It’s actually not that bad; Baekhyun honestly expected a truth-or-dare, strip-poker kind of party that he always sees on TV, but this almost  _ weeby _ party is actually a lot of fun. When he’s not playing, he jokes around with Chanyeol and Seiji, Chanyeol’s buddy, and the owner of the Switch they were playing on.

Baekhyun loses count of how many cups of root beer he drinks, but by the time Seiji calls it a night and staggers off downstairs to mingle with girls, Baekhyun realizes that it must have been spiked with something because his head won’t stop spinning.

“Ugh,” Baekhyun grunts as he scrambles to his feet. “Chanyeol, where’s the restroom?”

“Let me show you,” Chanyeol giggles and leads Baekhyun into the hallway. They somehow manage not to trip over anything, and Chanyeol successfully locates the bathroom door—only to find it locked.

“Whoops,” Chanyeol says when he fails to open the door for the third time. “I think someone’s inside, bro!”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Baekhyun agrees, his eyes closing. “Uh, let’s just wait the line.”

He plops onto the floor in front of the bathroom, and Chanyeol follows suit. They just sit there in a daze, waiting for the bathroom door to open.

“Bro,” Chanyeol says after a few minutes (or was it seconds? Baekhyun doesn’t really know at this point). “Thanks for coming.”

“Haha, no, thanks for inviting me,” Baekhyun laughs. “I actually hate parties, but I wanted to make Jongin happy.”

“Who’s Jongin?” Chanyeol asks.

“My housemate!” Baekhyun yells back.

“I thought his name was Kai?”

“No, there’s two of them!”

“You have two housemates?”

“No, only one!” Baekhyun shakes his head. “But there’s two of him!”

“That makes no sense, bro,” Chanyeol snickers.

“It doesn’t!” Baekhyun agrees with a laugh.

The bathroom door finally opens, and a girl Baekhyun recognizes from his math class stumbles out. He takes it as a cue and heads inside. He wants to close the door and lock it behind him, but then he realizes there’s no key. What?

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun yells. “There’s no key?”

“What?” Chanyeol grunts as he gets up from the floor. “But the door was just locked!”

“But there’s no key!” Baekhyun repeats as he inspects the keyhole. “How did she lock the door without a key?”

“Magic?” Chanyeol suggests as he too inspects the doorknob. “Maybe if we close the door....”

Baekhyun does as advised and closes the door. He turns the doorknob and the door still opens. Sighing, he closes it again.

“Alohomora!” he yells. He waits for two seconds and tries it again. It still opens.

“That’s the wrong spell!” Chanyeol tells him from the other side. “That one opens doors!”

“What’s the right one?” Baekhyun asks.

“How would I know, I’m a muggle!” Chanyeol shrugs.

That elicits a hysterical laugh from Baekhyun. Was Chanyeol always this funny?

“Just block the door with something,” Chanyeol suggests as he comes inside the bathroom. “What about the laundry basket?”

“There’s no laundry inside,” Baekhyun grunts as he looks at it. “It wouldn’t block shit.”

“Oh, I know!” Chanyeol clasps his hands. “I can block the door!”

Baekhyun scans Chanyeol from head to toe. “Hmm, you look strong enough.”

“Excuse me?” Chanyeol snorts. “I just look  _ strong enough _ ?”

He then rolls up his sleeve and starts flexing his biceps. “Do you know how many hours at the gym this is, bro?”

Baekhyun pokes it. It’s really firm and hard. “Damn.”

“That’s right,” Chanyeol laughs.

Baekhyun looks Chanyeol in the face. The latter is actually quite easy on the eye, if he may say so.

Chanyeol looks at him, too, and their eyes lock for a few seconds. Before Baekhyun knows what’s going on, his arms are wrapped around Chanyeol’s neck, pulling the taller into a smooch. Chanyeol returns the kiss, and they’re fumbling around the small bathroom. Baekhyun hisses when his back hits the sink, but that immediately turns into a moan when Chanyeol’s hands start roaming under his shirt.

“Fuck,” Baekhyun exhales when they finally break the kiss. “Chanyeol, I haven’t done this before.”

“Really?” Chanyeol says huskily.

“Well, I don’t actually remember,” Baekhyun says breathily. “It’s… complicated.”

“Then I’ll make sure you remember,” Chanyeol grins wolfishly at him before crashing his lips against Baekhyun’s once again.

And true to his words, Baekhyun does remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um, so yeah, that happened...
> 
> (yes, they definitely fucked. I'm just trying to keep this fic not explicit, so no detailed scene.)
> 
> I'm just gonna go now... thanks for the comments and kudos, as always~


	15. Chapter 15

“Hey, bro!”

“Hi, Chanyeol.”

The weirdest thing about all the stuff that’s gone down over the past few days is… that nothing’s changed. Baekhyun frowns as Chanyeol takes a seat in front of him as usual. Nothing. Has. Changed.

He’s always thought that losing one’s virginity (at least mentally if not physically) would be a life-changing event. That somehow, the world would be different, that he’d see things differently than before.

But nothing’s changed. Chanyeol’s still a goofy jock, Jongin’s still complaining about his phone bill, and Baekhyun’s still hopelessly in love with Sehun.

Baekhyun only realized that last bit when on Sunday evening, when Chanyeol finally texted him after their bathroom hook-up on Friday night, because he realized he wasn’t waiting for Chanyeol’s text. He’d spent the whole weekend wondering if the reason his first time having sex was so anticlimactic was that even though his mind didn’t, his body remembered.

“Can’t wait for Black Friday,” Chanyeol says matter-of-factly. “I seriously need to upgrade my graphics card.”

“Mm,” Baekhyun nods along, not really listening to what Chanyeol’s saying.

“What are you doing after school, by the way?” Chanyeol asks.

“Me?” Baekhyun repeats, snapping back to reality. “Nothing much. Why? We don’t have any assignments due.”

“No, I was just thinking,” Chanyeol says, leaning closer to Baekhyun so the rest of the class can’t overhear them, “that maybe I could give you a proper ride on my bed this time.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun blinks. “Mm, okay, sure.”

❊ ❊ ❊

Baekhyun  _ hates _ last-minute shopping. It’s Wednesday afternoon, and his mom  _ just _ realized she forgot to get herbs for the turkey, so Baekhyun’s been dispatched to Trader Joe’s to get some.

The place is crowded. Everyone and their grandma has a turkey (why were they buying turkeys just a day before Thanksgiving is beyond Baekhyun’s comprehension), kids are screaming, and the lines seem to have no end. Sighing, Baekhyun clutches onto his basket with four packets of fresh herbs and two cream cheese blocks. This is  _ not _ how he wants to spend his Wednesday afternoon.

“Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun turns around at the almost inaudible whisper of his name. “Oh, Mrs. Kim, hello.”

“How have you been?” she smiles at him warmly.

“I’m doing good, thank you for asking,” Baekhyun replies, clearing his throat. “H-how are you?”

Jongin’s mom nods a few times, though her smile looks strained. “Good. Your mother forgot about the herbs?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods. He looks at her cart, full of… well,  _ everything _ . “You’re buying a lot.”

“I haven’t had time to do any grocery shopping this week,” she sighs. “It always gets hectic this time of the year.”

Mrs. Kim works as the general manager for one of the larger hotels in San Francisco, if Baekhyun recalls correctly.

“H-how’s Jongin?” she finally asks after a few seconds of silence. “I heard from your mother that you two live together now.”

“He’s doing well,” Baekhyun replies. Just his luck to be stuck in the longest time ever right now. “He’s… he’s getting by.”

“That’s good to hear,” she says softly.

Baekhyun swears he could cut the tension in the air with a knife if he wanted to. He can see on her face that Jongin’s mom wants to ask more, but she never does. They fall into an awkward silence, interrupted by the beeping of the scanner and their cashier’s “would you like a bag for 25 cents?” every now and then.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, it’s Baekhyun’s turn to check out. He quickly denies the bag and is about to leave with his few items when Mrs. Kim stops him.

“Baekhyun, do you think you could help me to the car?”

“Of course, Mrs. Kim,” Baekhyun agrees. Sometimes, being the nice kid in the neighborhood sucked.

He then waits around for Mrs. Kim to finish checking out, giving the cashier a hand with all the bagging and helps Mrs. Kim load up all the bags into her cart. There’s nothing too heavy—perhaps the gallon of lactose-free milk—but he has a suspicion about what’s going on.

“Here,” she says as she leads him to her car in the parking lot. “Let me get something.”

She opens the trunk and grabs a large bag. She looks inside it, checking the contents briefly, before handing it to Baekhyun. “Can you… can you give these to Jongin? I was going to stop by your house later, but this works out for the best.”

Baekhyun takes a quick peek inside. He instantly recognizes several boxes of choco pies, homemade jam and lemon curd, and a box of what suspiciously looks like Mrs. Kim’s famed gingersnap cookies. She hasn’t made them since they were in middle school.

“Those were his favorites,” she says, her voice shaking. “I just… I just thought that maybe he would still like them.”

“Mrs. Kim, why don’t you give these to him yourself?” Baekhyun asks.

“I… I can’t,” she shakes her head. “Thanks for everything, Baekhyun. Happy Thanksgiving.”

❊ ❊ ❊

Unlike most American families, the Byun family doesn’t really do  _ that _ much on Thanksgiving. Sure, they roast a turkey (even though none of them actually likes eating it), they bake pies (or, in this year’s case, a pumpkin cheesecake by yours truly), and they really, really look forward to Black Friday shopping at 7 PM on Thursday. But that’s about it—there’s no real holiday festive spirit present since they exhaust it all during Chuseok just weeks before.

This year’s even worse, because, for the first time ever, Baekhyun’s not joining his parents on their hunt for the best Walmart deals. No, rushing through the doors and trying not to get stampeded by a too eager crowd of early shoppers is definitely not on Baekhyun’s agenda this year.

He’d much rather spend this year’s Thanksgiving evening chatting with Sehun.

“I think my stomach is going to explode,” Baekhyun groans as he turns in his bed. 

“How much did you eat?” Sehun asks as he slurps on his ramen.

“Um, let me think,” Baekhyun mutters. “One turkey leg, five or six ribs, two scoops of mac and cheese, a ton of coleslaw, some casserole, baked veggies, two slices of cheesecake, a slice of pecan pie, an apple tart—”

“Wait, you’re kidding, right?” Sehun asks, concerned.

“Nope,” Baekhyun whines. “Anyway, how come you’re not at school?”

“Didn’t really feel like it,” Sehun shrugs simply.

“Wow, skipping school in your senior year?” Baekhyun laughs.

“They’re just happy to have a celebrity they can show off,” Sehun says. “They want me to give a speech during the Christmas assembly.”

Baekhyun clears his throat. “You know, preferential treatment at school can get you in a lot of trouble these days.”

But this isn’t America,” Sehun smirks. “Oh, speaking of America. Guess what?”

“What?”

“I don’t have anything scheduled during New Years’, so I’m coming to visit!”

Baekhyun immediately perks up and sits up on his bed. “Wait, what?”

“I thought you’d be more excited about it, babe,” Sehun pouts.

“You’re serious?” Baekhyun asks, bewildered. “Dude! That’s awesome!”

“I can only stay for a week, though,” Sehun sighs. “I’ve got a movie filming starting in early January, and they want to get my scenes as soon as possible before school starts again.”

“Just a week?” Baekhyun frowns. “Well, do you have any plans?”

“Not really,” Sehun laughs. “I was hoping I could… crash at your place. If you don’t mind.”

“No, of course not!” Baekhyun shakes his head. How could he? “We have to throw you a welcome party!”

“A welcome party?” Sehun repeats, the corners of his lips twitching. “Baekhyun, you want to throw a party?”

“So what?” Baekhyun grunts. If it’s for Sehun, of course he would! “Just so you know, I actually did go to a party this weekend.”

“Oh, how did that go?” Sehun asks. “I’ve always wondered if college parties really are as wild as on TV.”

“Well, kinda, yeah,” Baekhyun says. “It’s definitely more chaotic. And loud. Super loud. And… well….”

“Baekhyun?” Sehun says slowly, squinting his eyes. “Did you… holy cow, you hooked up!”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen in shock. How did Sehun guess that? “Um, what?”

“Don’t deny it,” Sehun smirks. “I can see it all over your face! Dude, how was it?”

Are they seriously going to talk about Baekhyun’s loss of virginity right now? But then again, Baekhyun thinks, that’s how all straight guys are. Jongin was no less interested than Sehun, after all.

“Well, I mean, it was nice,” Baekhyun mutters. “Felt good.”

“So, are you dating her now?” Sehun presses. “Or was it just a fling?”

Not  _ her _ . “I guess it was just a fling. I mean, nothing’s changed much.”

“Oh, good,” Sehun says with a relieved smile. “No feelings attached, that’s good.”

“How’s that good?” Baekhyun frowns.

Sehun clears his throat. “Because I hate competition.”

“Gosh, you’re a dumbass,” Baekhyun chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief.

“But you love me, don’t you,” Sehun says cheekily, sticking his tongue out.

“Sure,” Baekhyun shrugs. If only Sehun knew how serious Baekhyun is about that.

They chat for another twenty minutes or so, until Sehun is interrupted by a call from his manager and has to hang up. A few minutes later, Sehun messages him that something’s come up, and that he’ll call Baekhyun again some other time. At this point, Baekhyun is used to this, so he doesn’t dwell too long on it. After all, he’s got to share the exciting news with someone!

He dials Jongin’s phone. Baekhyun doesn’t know if Jongin’s actually followed up on Baekhyun’s advice to contact Sehun, but if he hasn’t this would give him a perfect excuse.

Baekhyun waits and waits, but Jongin never picks up. Strange. Maybe he’s taking a shower or something. Shaking his head, Baekhyun instead texts Jongin the info and then gets up from his bed. The food coma is finally dissipating, and the news definitely energized him.

He needs to  _ tell _ someone about this. But whom? There’s only 3 people who know about his crush on Sehun, and Jongin’s not picking up, Minhee and he are still not on speaking terms, and Eunjin probably doesn’t give a damn at all.

_ Tyler _ .

There is, of course, his new Internet friend he could talk to. He’s mentioned his crush on Sehun in the passing—of course, Tyler doesn’t know who Sehun is, but maybe he would understand Baekhyun’s excitement?

Except, when Baekhyun logs onto the website, Tyler’s not online. Crap. Where is his adult entertainer when he needs one?

Out of habit, Baekhyun scrolls through the homepage to see if anyone catches his eyes. Most of them are too old, too slimy, or not much body hair. Ugh. Baekhyun can’t help it that his ideal type is Sehun—

His eyes land on one of the tiles. The current screencap is of a torso of what seems to be a very athletic, hairless, tanned, and definitely Asian dude. The cammer, kr_boii, claims to be 18, and according to the site, it’s his first time streaming. Baekhyun’s kind of curious—his body’s hot, okay? So he clicks on it out of curiosity.

“... yes, I’m from California,” kr_boii says, his voice deep and sultry, sending shivers down Baekhyun’s spine. This boy  _ knows _ what he’s doing. Fuck.

For a first time streamer, he seems to have attracted quite a few viewers. There’s dozens of people chatting furiously, ranging from show feet requests to very explicit and not safe for… well,  _ anything _ , descriptions of what exactly the viewers would do to the cammer if they could.

“I’m into girls,” the cammer says as he replies to another question. There’s something about that voice that’s making Baekhyun feeling all sorts of weird, but he can’t quite put a finger on what. “But… well, I’ve done things with guys. So it’s not like I’d totally be opposed to it,  _ if you tip well _ .”

What a tease. This guy, whoever he is, knows how to work the crowd. Baekhyun wishes he could have his confidence.

“How much for dick... uh….” kr_boii’s voice trails off, and he leans down, probably to look closer at his computer screen, and Baekhyun freezes because that’s fucking  _ Jongin’s  _ face on screen.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

No. There’s no way. That can’t be Jongin. Right? That’s just someone who looks suspiciously like Jongin, in a room that has the same navy blue paint as Jongin’s room, with the same computer chair that Baekhyun helped him pick out—fuck.

“I don’t know,” Jongin says, and even though he’s trying really hard to hide it, Baekhyun can see in the way his eyes dash from one side to the other that he’s panicking, “um, I don’t know, 300?”

That’s an absurd amount of coins to ask for a dick flash, from what Baekhyun’s experienced so far on the site. Most people would ask for 50, 100 max. And it seems that the chat agrees, with several people complaining about the ridiculous amount asked.

Until mr_roomba casually drops 300 coins.

“Oh,” Jongin says, clearing his throat. “I’m guessing that’s for the… yeah.”

As Jongin stands up, Baekhyun instinctively minimizes the window. His heart’s going into an overdrive. How the hell did he even end up in this situation.

The sound of more people dropping coins fills the room, and Baekhyun winces. He doesn’t want to imagine what’s going on, he really doesn’t, but he knows what it means when a lot of people suddenly tip a cammer.

Finally, the noise dies down, and he hears Jongin clear his throat. “Um, yeah….”

Fuck. No. He can’t let Jongin do this.

Baekhyun opens his browser up again. Jongin’s sitting in his chair again, practically chewing on his lower lip, and something inside Baekhyun breaks. Just how desperate for money has he been that he’d resort to this sort of thing? Sure, Jongin does sleep around a lot, but that’s different—he’s always been shy in front of a crowd,  _ especially _ online. The boy doesn’t even have Instagram!

**_mr_roomba_ ** _ : how much to lose those boxers, pretty boy? _

Jongin blinks. “Uh, like, completely? Um… fuck. 500?”

Before he can think it through, Baekhyun presses the “Buy Coins” button and buys a 1000.

**_blt_sammich_ ** _ : i think ur sexy in ur underwear, if i tip 1000, will u keep them on? _

The chat is immediately flooded with insults thrown his way, but Baekhyun doesn’t care. He patiently waits as Jongin catches up on the chat, reading one thirsty comment after another.

A few seconds later, Jongin finally gets to his comment, and Baekhyun’s lips curl up when he notices Jongin’s face relax as he reads Baekhyun’s comment.

“Uh, sure, babe, if that’s what you want,” Jongin laughs, his voice briefly flipping back to his usual register.

There’s a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach at being called babe by Jongin of all people, but Baekhyun ignores it and dumps all of his just-purchased coins into the stream.

“Thanks, sweetie!” Jongin grins. He then slowly stands up and starts showing off his boxers, at which point Baekhyun immediately minimizes his browser again because  _ he does not _ want to see Jongin’s striptease moves.

After a few seconds, Jongin finally says, “I hope you enjoyed that, BLT.”

Baekhyun peeks at the window again and sighs in relief when he sees Jongin once again sitting down in his chair. That’s good.

Suddenly, he gets a DM. Baekhyun opens it up, and his throat goes dry at the content of it.

**_kr_boii_ ** _ : hey, babe, want a private underwear show ;) _

Fuck. Jongin,  _ why? _

Biting his lip, Baekhyun quickly types out a message.

**_blt_sammich_ ** _ : its me baekhyun. _

Jongin’s busy reading the public chat messages, but about ten seconds later, he suddenly freezes. His eyes go wide, and without a warning, the feed cuts out.

Fuck. Did he mess up? He grabs his phone and dials Jongin’s number again.

No one picks up.

Screw it. Baekhyun quickly gets up from his desk, grabs his car keys, and dashes out of his parents’ house. He has to get to Jongin before the latter does something stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, several things going on here. I hope you don't hate me too much for making chanbaek just friends with benefits, but honestly, I just didn't see how baekhyun could ever develop feelings for chanyeol at this point, and chanyeol's just looking for a hook up, so yeah. Let me know what you think about kai's mom—I wanted to expand on that much more but I felt that her saying any more than that would've been unrealistic :/ And yeah... speaking of kai... I don't even know, man...


	16. Chapter 16

Baekhyun finds Jongin in the apartment, sitting in the kitchen and staring at his phone blankly.

“Jongin,” Baekhyun says softly. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Jongin replies.

“I brought some stuff,” Baekhyun says, clearing his throat. “I thought you’d want some turkey. And some cookies and jams and stuff. All for you.”

“Thanks, but I already ate.”

“Okay.”

Baekhyun grabs the bags and wordlessly starts putting the food away. When he grabs the jar of gingersnap cookies, he sighs and puts them on the table next to Jongin. “Your mom sent these.”

Jongin looks at the jar. “Hmm. Okay.”

Fuck this. “Jongin—”

“Are you gonna judge me?” Jongin cuts him off. “Because I don’t need to hear it.”

“No,” Baekhyun shakes his head and takes a seat next to him. “Just… you know I’m here for you, right? You can always talk to me.”

When Jongin doesn’t reply, Baekhyun turns around again and continues organizing the pantry. Minutes pass by in complete silence, broken only by the clanking of cans that Baekhyun puts away, until Baekhyun’s ears pick up an almost inaudible sob, and his body freezes.

A few seconds later, he unmistakably hears another. He spins around, and finds Jongin still staring at his locked phone, his eyes red and wet.

“I just… I don’t know what to do anymore,” Jongin says, his voice breaking. “I—what the fuck am I supposed to do?”

Baekhyun takes a seat next to his friend. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No,” Jongin shakes his head. “It’s just… you know, it’s been months. Months of me just going to work, going home, eating, sleeping, going to work again. And I mean, I guess the job’s  _ alright _ , but I did the math. I’d have to work my ass for another 15 years at this rate before I can open a studio, and that’s if I don’t spend any money at all. And then when we talked about another job, well, I just… I heard that it makes a lot of money fast, but...but….”

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun says quietly. “I can’t even imagine how you’re feeling right now.”

“I just figured it’d be better than…  _ offline  _ stuff, you know?” Jongin continues bitterly. “Fuck. What was I thinking? What if people see it? What if  _ mom _ sees it?”

“No one’s going to see it,” Baekhyun shakes his head.

“ _ You _ saw it.”

“... Right.”

Baekhyun didn’t know silence could be so deafening. He desperately tries to come up with something to say to change the topic, but his brain just doesn’t work for some reason.

Luckily, Jongin speaks up, though his next words leave Baekhyun equally speechless.

“Did you enjoy it at least?”

“ _ What?! _ ”

“I mean, watching it,” Jongin clears his throat. “Was I good or—”

“I just closed my eyes before I saw something I couldn’t unsee,” Baekhyun admits quickly.

“Oh.”

Baekhyun bites his lip. “But, I mean, objectively speaking, I’m sure the folks in chat enjoyed it a lot. They tipped you like crazy.”

“Mm.”

Jongin looks disappointed for some reason.

Fuck, to hell with it. He might as well say it. “I mean, up until you revealed your face, I liked it a lot.”

Jongin raises an eyebrow at that. “Really? Or are you just saying that to make me feel good?”

“I already told you, I think you’re hot,” Baekhyun mumbles.

That finally gets a small smirk on Jongin’s lips. “Thanks.”

“Are you feeling better?”

“No,” Jongin shakes his head. “But I will.”

“Right.”

Baekhyun really hopes that Jongin comes around and that they can forget this whole ordeal soon.

If only he knew.

❊ ❊ ❊

They don’t bring it up again. Not the next day, not during the weekend, not even during the following week. And though Jongin does his best to pretend that he’s fine, Baekhyun can see the slight panic forming in his eyes whenever someone stares at him for one second too long. It seems that it’s only dawning on his housemate now what burden that one live webcamming session comes with.

And it’s not just Baekhyun that’s noticed, apparently. As he chews on his discounted popcorn chicken bites, Chanyeol nudges him in the ribs lightly.

“Is it just me or is he kinda on edge about something?” Chanyeol mutters barely audibly.

Baekhyun gulps. “Nah, he’s just… shy, I guess.”

Which, of course, is true. Jongin is a shy boy. In general. When he’s not trying to score a hook-up.

“Yeah, I know, but he just seems more nervous than usual,” Chanyeol shrugs. “By the way, are you gonna eat the fries?”

“No, you can have them,” Baekhyun shakes his head.

“Thanks,” Chanyeol grins and immediately devours the cup of curly fries.

Baekhyun glances at Chanyeol. Honestly, he doesn’t know where it all went so wrong. For years, he’s only had Sehun on his mind. Even though deep down, he knew that he had realistically no chance of actually ending up together with the boy, he still held up hope—no, a  _ fantasy _ —that somehow, the two of them would end up being a thing. And Sehun’s obnoxious flirting didn’t help dissuade him much.

Of course, he had other fantasies as well. Finding a handsome college jock that would sweep him away like a torrent and having wild sex at all times of the day was definitely one of them. And yet, here he is, with a handsome college jock, having sex at all times of the day—but he’s nowhere near swept away. No, it’s like he’s broken or something, because Chanyeol definitely satisfies all of his requirements. He’s objectively hot, he’s funny, he’s a great listener, and his stamina… okay, you get the idea.

But Baekhyun just doesn’t get the tingles around him.

“Why are you looking at me like this?” Chanyeol asks after a while.

Baekhyun quickly averts his gaze. “It’s nothing.”

“Really?” Chanyeol smirks, his fingers discreetly tracing circles on Baekhyun’s thigh.

“We have class in fifteen, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun reminds him.

“Well, Lisa’s not gonna care, is she?” Chanyeol points out.

Before Baekhyun can answer that, Jongin stalks over, his phone in his hands. “Are you going?”

“Going where?” Baekhyun frowns.

“Check your phone,” Jongin mutters.

Baekhyun unlocks his phone and freezes when he sees the notification.

“Um….”

“Yeah, exactly.”

Baekhyun feels kind of bad because he completely forgot that his former best friend’s birthday is coming up, but he also feels a sharp pain in his chest that he’s being invited to the party through a Facebook event invite.

“I mean, I’m just happy she even thought to invite me, but I can’t believe she did that to you,” Jongin says slowly. “I mean, what the hell did you two fight about to end up like this?”

Baekhyun grimaces. It’s not like he can tell Jongin that it was about him.

“What’s this about?” Chanyeol asks, confused.

“My friend’s birthday party,” Baekhyun replies absentmindedly as he shoves the phone back in his pocket. “I… I’ll think about it. Come on, let’s just go to class.”

❊ ❊ ❊

But Baekhyun can’t let it go. He’s distracted the rest of the day; all he can think about is the fact that Minhee, his best friend of freaking  _ fourteen years _ , invited him to her birthday party with a Facebook event invite.

And Baekhyun  _ still _ doesn’t understand what the fuck happened.

“Maybe you should just ask her,” Sehun comments when Baekhyun rants to him about the whole situation after class.

“But what if it’s nothing?” Baekhyun argues. “Maybe she’s too busy to call up people so she’s just doing this?”

It still doesn’t explain why she couldn’t be bothered to at least  _ message _ him, but Baekhyun’s sulking and refuses to talk to her.

“Maybe,” Sehun shrugs and takes off his shirt.

Baekhyun stares at the screen. Sure, Sehun and him have grown incredibly close, but this is new. Sehun’s never just changed clothes in front of him. On one hand, it’s exciting and Baekhyun can’t deny that he  _ loves _ what he sees; on the other hand, does this mean that he’s now officially bro-zoned for good?

“Finally I have a day off tomorrow,” Sehun says as he plops down on his bed. “No filming, no school, no schedules. Just time to myself.”

“That’s nice,” Baekhyun says, clearing his throat as Sehun’s camera keeps pointing at his bare chest. “Um, any plans?”

“Sleep,” Sehun replies blissfully, finally fixing his camera angle so that it shows his face again. He’s lying on his side, half of his face burrowed in his pillow, his eyes already closed.

“Oh, you must be so tired,” Baekhyun says. “Um, I guess, good night?”

“Can you talk me to sleep?” Sehun asks suddenly.

“Me?” Baekhyun blinks, his throat going dry. “I—uh, I mean—why me?”

“You have a really nice voice,  _ Baekhyunnie _ ,” Sehun purrs, and Baekhyun feels his face turn ten shades redder.

“T-thanks?” Baekhyun stutters. “Um, what do I talk about though?”

“Anything,” Sehun mutters. “How’s college going?”

“A little bit stressful, since finals are coming up soon,” Baekhyun replies. “But at least there’s English. The professor’s amazing. She always gives really good feedback on our essays and allows a free rewrite. And then, there’s Chanyeol; he’s really good to bounce ideas off of.”

“So, Chanyeol, huh?” Sehun smirks. “Have you replaced me already?”

“What?” Baekhyun clears his throat, flustered. “No, of course not. Chanyeol’s… a friend. Just a friend. No one could replace you.”

And as he says those words, Baekhyun suddenly realizes the gravity behind them. Chanyeol is a little bit more than just a friend, alright, but that’s the reason Baekhyun doesn’t feel that tingle around him. Because he’s not Sehun.

No one can replace Sehun.

“If you say so,” Sehun grins. “What else is new?”

And Baekhyun just keeps going. He details everything from his classes, from the mountains of homework for Math to the idiotic paper for Biology. He tells Sehun all about his annoying classmates, campus rumors, football game scores.

At some point, Sehun’s phone falls face-up on the mattress and Sehun stops reacting to Baekhyun’s stories, but Baekhyun doesn’t stop. He keeps talking, even though he knows Sehun’s already deep asleep, judging by the deep breaths and light snores. He goes on and on for a good fifteen minutes more until he exhausts all the gossip he can remember off the top of his head.

“... and yeah, I think that’s it,” Baekhyun wraps up, staring at Sehun’s ceiling through his phone screen. “So, I think that’s about it. Anything else you want me to talk about?”

There’s no response, just the sound of Sehun’s deep breaths.

“Nothing?” Baekhyun presses on. “Not gonna ask me about girls today?”

Sehun doesn’t stir.

“Well, let me tell you anyway,” Baekhyun purses his lips. “The truth is, there are no girls. There never were any. Shocking, right? As I told you, I only have eyes for one person.”

Sehun’s breaths are even, deep, and there’s no sign of reaction from the other boy.

And so Baekhyun braces himself and finally, for the first time, he says what he’s been so afraid to say for years. “I’ve only had my eyes for you, Sehun.”

There it is. He’s finally done it. He’s finally confessed his feelings for his crush of 4 years.

Except, Sehun’s already deep asleep, completely oblivious to what Baekhyun’s just said. But even so, Baekhyun feels a huge burden drop from his chest, as if an invisible weight has finally been lifted from him.

“Wow, it feels good to finally say it,” Baekhyun mutters. “Even if you can’t hear me. But that’s alright. I’ll tell you again in person when you’re here. This time for real. Good night, Sehun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry for the long pause; things happened IRL and I wasn't really in the mood to write for a while. But at long last, here's the chapter! The story will pick up pretty quick now - it's almost the end of the semester, and most of the things I have planned will happen, of course, over the course of the winter break - I haven't been very subtle on what I plan on doing in this chapter xD


	17. Chapter 17

“Are you sure I can’t just go home?” Baekhyun asks, fidgeting in the passenger’s seat.

“Baekhyun, you already said yes on the event page,” Jongin reminds him. “Not showing up is pretty much admitting that you chickened out at the last minute. Besides, if you don’t go in, how could I?”

Gosh, Baekhyun hates it when Jongin makes sense.

“But can we at least wait for a bit?” Baekhyun whimpers.

“And draw even more attention to us?” Jongin raises an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine, fine,” Baekhyun sighs resignedly. He grabs the little gift bag with the newest Chanel fragrance he spent almost forty minutes picking out and gets out of the car. “Let’s go then.”

It’s a somewhat chilly Saturday evening, just days after Baekhyun finished his last final (he’s pretty sure he bombed all the Latin names of every invertebrate on the exam, but honestly, who the hell tests students on  _ Latin names _ on a final exam?) and right now, he and Jongin are about to enter the battlezone.

Also known as Minhee’s dinner party.

Okay, deep down, Baekhyun knows he’s probably just overreacting. Minhee seems to have planned the party quite last minute, and right before the finals, too, and finals at Berkeley are notoriously hard, and maybe she  _ was _ going to message Baekhyun but got distracted and forgot about it, or maybe she felt too awkward and didn’t know what to write….

_ Why is he trying to make excuses for her? _

“Baekhyun, you coming?” Jongin, who's already standing in front of the restaurant door, calls out to him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Baekhyun mutters, quickly hurrying over to his roommate.

As soon as they step inside, Baekhyun feels dread wash over him. Leave it to Minhee to invite half of their graduating class. It seems that she’s booked the whole place; all the usually spread-out tables now form two long rows, and there's at least forty people already sitting down, idly chatting with each other. Baekhyun recognizes many of them from high school, though there are a few unfamiliar faces that he guesses are Minhee’s college friends.

“Baekhyun, Jongin!” a familiar voice squeals, and Baekhyun has just moments to react before an arm wraps around his shoulders and pulls him into a tight hug.

“Eunjin!” he manages to say. “Hi!”

“Hey,” Jongin smiles weakly before also being pulled into a hug as soon as Baekhyun’s released.

“I haven’t seen you guys in so long!” Eunjin grins excitedly. “How have you been? How’s living together?”

“It’s been great,” Baekhyun replies, eyeing Jongin’s stone-faced expression. “Jongin’s actually quite responsible, would you believe that?”

“No way!” Eunjin gasps, feigning shock. “You gotta be kidding!”

“Haha, funny,” Jongin rolls his eyes, a small genuine small finally breaking his poker face. “I didn’t miss this at all.”

“Hush you,” Eunjin waves her hand. “We all know you secretly love us ganging up and teasing you. Anyway, come on, let’s grab a seat!”

She leads them to one of the tables that's packed with their high school classmates whose names Baekhyun’s already forgotten. There are Minhee’s cheerleader friends (but no Amanda Cortez, thank god), a few guys Baekhyun’s taken classes with here and there, almost everyone from their senior year’s band, and there are even a few upperclassmen that Baekhyun barely remembers from their freshmen and sophomore years.

And then, of course, there are also more familiar faces. Baekhyun spots Preeyusha, his physics deskmate, Jennifer, the almost prom-queen and who appears to be at least 7 months pregnant, and, most shockingly, Jeffrey.

Baekhyun sits down at the table uneasily. Now he  _ really _ doesn’t want to be here.

“Where’s Min?” Jongin asks.

“I’m right here,” a voice says right behind them, and Baekhyun feels a chill run down his spine. Gulping, he turns around.

She hasn’t changed one bit, from her long, black hair with perfect curls, her effortless and natural make-up, down to her chic black dress.

“Thanks so much for coming, guys,” she smiles at them warmly, and Baekhyun feels a sudden pang in his chest.

“Thanks for inviting us,” Jongin replies.

Minhee walks around the table, sitting down next to Eunjin. “I haven’t talked to either of you in so long. So, what’s new?”

“Just busy with school,” Baekhyun replies, his voice cracking slightly. This is the first time he’s talked to Minhee in… what, six months? “You know. Haven’t had time for much else.”

Jeffrey snorts.

“Is there a problem?” Jongin growls.

“No,” Jeffrey shrugs. “Not really.”

“I’ve been so busy with school too,” Minhee nods, speaking so effortlessly and casually that it almost seems like  _ nothing _ happened between the two of them. “It was so dumb of me to take fifteen units in my first semester. Man, my Econ professor is killing me!”

And just for a moment, it seems that everything is back to where it was before their graduation. The four of them chat casually as if the last six months never happened; like there was no rift between them. Eventually, when the last couple of people arrive, Minhee gives a lovely birthday speech, and then they’re all eating, enjoying the evening, and Baekhyun thinks that maybe, maybe, it really was all just in his head. That Minhee never saw them as growing apart, and that maybe it really just was the sudden distance and their busy lives that got in between them.

But of course, that moment didn’t last.

“... so I told him I don’t have a boyfriend,” Eunjin says, taking a sip from her glass.

“And?” Minhee prompts her. “What did he do?”

Eunjin grins. “He said, ‘Well, you do now!’”

“Holy shit!” Minhee squeals excitedly. “Damn, dude’s got balls!”

Eunjin bites her lower lip. “Um… no comment.”

Minhee’s eyes widen. “No—no way. No. Eunjin. You?!”

Jongin gulps down his glass of Pepsi indignantly.

“Well, yeah,” Eunjin blushes. “So yeah… well, what about you, Baekhyun? Anything new in your love life?”

Baekhyun turns his eyes from Jongin back to the girls. “Um….”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jeffrey suddenly butts in again.

“Um, what?” Eunjin asks, turning to him.

“I mean, everyone knows,” Jeffrey shrugs.

One of the jock guys next to him—was it Alan? Adam?—makes a not-so-subtle jerking gesture with his hand, eliciting several laughs from the table.

“Assholes,” Jongin hisses at them.

“Honestly, though,” Jennifer joins in, “I thought better of you, Kai. Are girls not enough for you anymore?”

“Guys, stop it,” Preeyusha says.

“Or what?” Jeffrey scoffs.

“So, Kim,” Alan or what's-his-name says, leaning forward with a crooked grin. “Is it true? Do guys give better head than girls?”

By now, everyone around them has stopped talking and stares at them. Baekhyun clenches his fists; even though what they’re suggesting is just wrong, he can’t help but wonder, how the hell did they figure it out? He wasn’t  _ out _ , right? So someone must’ve outed him.

Someone who thought he and Jongin had something going on.

And suddenly, Baekhyun’s eyes see red.

_ ‘At least I didn’t suck his dick!’ _

He slowly turns to Minhee, who’s just sitting there across from him, watching blank-faced as more and more people pile in.

“Shut up,” Eunjin snaps. “All of you.”

“We’re just having a bit of fun,” Jennifer sneers. “I mean, we’re not discriminating or anything.”

“Yeah, it’s totally cool,” Jeffrey agrees. “He can sleep with whoever he wants. I just expected more from our golden boy Baekhyun here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eunjin says through gritted teeth.

“We just didn’t expect the nice guy to be a whore is all,” Jennifer shrugs.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Jongin yells at her, fuming. “Take that back, right now!”

“Or what, Kai?” Jennifer cocks her head. “You’re gonna attack the pregnant woman?”

“Wait, don’t tell me,” Jeffrey says, pointing at Jongin and Baekhyun with his fingers. “Are you two actually, like,  _ together _ ?”

Baekhyun’s had enough. He slams his fist into the table, making several people yelp and abruptly stands up. He throws a nasty glare in the trio’s direction. “You don’t know a single thing about me, so shut the fuck up.”

Not a single person around them speaks up. For several seconds, the background music playing is almost deafening in the absence of chatter. Jennifer looks shocked as if she didn’t know Baekhyun could actually talk for himself, Jeffrey is smirking to himself, and the other dude is just gawking at him.

“Baekhyun—”

“No,” Baekhyun interrupts Eunjin’s attempt to calm him down. “Do I really have to sit here and listen to your bullshit? Huh?” He then turns his eyes to Jennifer. “You, who the hell do you think you are?”

“Jeez, man, I was just—”

“You call me a whore?” Baekhyun scoffs. “Hello, did you look in the mirror? I know what you’ve been telling everyone. That Seiji knocked you up and dumped you.”

“Well, it’s true—”

“Bullshit!” Baekhyun spits out. “I talked to him. You got yourself pregnant during Spring Break and then tried to put it on him!”

“Well, that’s a lie!” Jennifer shrieks. “I would, like,  _ never _ do that!”

“That’s what I heard, too,” Nick mumbles.

“No one’s talking to you!” Jennifer glowers at him.

Baekhyun turns to Jeffrey. “And you. What the hell is wrong with you?”

Alan/Adam snorts. “Come on, man—”

“I’ve never even talked to you before, so mind your own fucking business!” Baekhyun barks.

Jeffrey shakes his head, chuckling to himself. “Byun, we’re all just messing with Kim here, why do you have to—”

“The shit you pulled at prom wasn’t enough for you?” Baekhyun snaps back. “You couldn’t handle being dumped by Minhee, so you had to target her boyfriend?”

He suddenly feels a hand grip his wrist. Turning around, he sees Minhee clutching him. She looks at him pleadingly. “Baekhyun, please, don’t—”

He quickly jerks his arm away from her. “Is this why you invited me?”

“What?” Minhee blinks. “No.  _ No _ . Of course not!”

“Well, I hope you’ve had your fun,” he hisses icily. He bends down and grabs the gift bag and slams it down in front of her. “Happy birthday.”

With that, he grabs his jacket from his chair and storms off.


	18. Chapter 18

“Baekhyun, wait!”

Baekhyun doesn’t. He tries to open the car door and hisses angrily when he realizes Jongin’s got the car keys. Great.

Minhee catches up to him, grabbing onto the car hood for support. “Wait… don’t go. I haven’t….”

“Fine,” Baekhyun growls, crossing his arms. “You wanna do this here?”

“Do what?” Minhee exclaims. “Baekhyun, I swear, it  _ wasn’t _ me!”

“Really?” Baekhyun scoffs. “So you’re telling me that somehow, everyone at your birthday party magically knows I’m gay and accuses me of hooking up with Jongin, huh?”

Jongin and Eunjin also catch up to them by now, both looking with unease in their eyes at the scene unfolding in front of them.

“ _ Why _ would I tell anyone?” Minhee groans. “Baekhyun, I swear, I didn’t do it!”

“Then was it Jongin?” Baekhyun retorts. “Or Eunjin?”

“It wasn’t us,” Minhee insists. “Please, you have to trust me. I mean, Baekhyun, I know we haven’t talked much recently—”

“That’s what you call it?” Baekhyun laughs bitterly. “Haven’t talked much? We haven’t spoken to each other since graduation! And you barely replied to anything I sent you!”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Minhee says. “And I’m sorry. That’s totally my fault. I was… wrong. About everything. I wanted to give you some space while you were in Korea, but then school and everything happened and I just didn’t—”

“So you’re saying that all of that is more important to you than our friendship,” Baekhyun nods. “Good to know.”

“Guys, maybe we should—”

“Stay out of this!” Baekhyun barks, shutting Eunjin up immediately.

“Baekhyun, I understand that you’re angry,” Minhee says pleadingly, “but surely, you know I wouldn’t out you to anyone.”

“I don’t know, Min,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “Today’s only the second time anyone’s ever accused me of having sex with Jongin.”

“What?” Jongin blinks.

Minhee’s eyes widen in realization and suddenly, her face hardens. “... You actually think I told everyone on purpose, to get back at you or something.”

“Duh!”

Minhee blinks several times. “Oh. I—I didn’t think y-you thought so lowly of me.”

“What else am I supposed to think?” Baekhyun hisses.

“Well, you’re wrong,” Minhee mutters. “But you know what? Keep thinking what you want. If you really think that I would ever do this to you, then you’re not who I thought you are.”

With that, she turns on her heels and strides off.

“It wasn’t her,” Eunjin says after a few seconds.

“Whatever,” Baekhyun waves his hand dismissively. “Let’s go, Jongin.”

“Alright,” Jongin shrugs resignedly. He looks at Eunjin, as if to say something, but then just shakes his head and unlocks the car.

“You’re in town for a while, right?” Baekhyun asks her.

“Yeah, I’m staying through January,” Eunjin nods.

“I guess I’ll see you during the holidays?” Baekhyun says, trying (and failing) at giving her a smile.

“Sure,” Eunjin mutters. “After you apologize to Min.”

With that, she also heads back to the restaurant.

“I’m not going to!” Baekhyun yells after her.

“Suit yourself!” she shouts back.

❊ ❊ ❊

“Baekhyun, talk to Minhee.”

“No.”

“Come on, you  _ know _ it wasn’t her.”

“... Maybe....”

“Come on, it’s Christmas Eve. Be the better person and say you’re sorry.”

“Shut up, Jongin.”

“... Will you talk to her if I do?”

Baekhyun throws his pillow in Jongin’s face.

❊ ❊ ❊

Well, to be completely honest, deep down, Baekhyun knows he messed up. Jongin and Eunjin were right; the Minhee he knows wouldn’t expose him like that just to get back at him. Lim Minhee is many things, but she’s not a back-stabbing snake. Minhee fights her own battles; she never lets others do the dirty work for her.

_ But she might have changed. _ Yes, it’s a poor excuse, but Baekhyun will take any right now to save his pride.

Unfortunately for him, however, he’s got no choice in the matter now. Sehun arrives in 2 days, and they have a welcome party to plan and a guest list to finalize. Much to Baekhyun’s surprise, Jongin managed to track down quite a few of Sehun’s former friends,  _ including _ Laura Stefanoff, the pretty girl with large grey eyes that Baekhyun used to hate so much back then for simply existing. The one person Jongin did not manage to invite, however, is Minhee, who’s made it clear that she won’t attend if Baekhyun’s there.

Which is how Baekhyun finds himself on the familiar doorstep of Minhee’s home. Because this is not about him, it’s about Sehun, and Baekhyun’s pride goes right out of the window whenever Sehun’s concerned.

Taking a deep breath, Baekhyun knocks on the door. A few seconds later, he hears hurried footsteps, and the door swings open.

“Baekhyun?” Minhee says, raising an eyebrow. “What a surprise.”

“Hi,” Baekhyun says with a small smile.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asks, crossing her arms.

“Well, I wanted to ask you to reconsider coming to the party on Thursday,” he replies, clearing his throat. “I mean, it’s for Sehun. It’s not about me.”

“I can just meet him some other time,” she shrugs.

“Okay, fine,” he sighs, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry, okay? I was… wrong. Please forgive me.”

“Really?” she scoffs. “Are you? Or are you just saying that.”

“Look, I know it wasn’t you,” he sighs. “Well, I don’t know, but I don’t  _ think _ it was you. You’re not that type of person. And I’m really sorry I snapped at you. It’s just… Min,  _ someone _ outed me.”

Minhee glances around carefully before stepping away from the door. “Come in.”

Baekhyun doesn’t need to be told twice. Before she can change her mind, he quickly crosses the threshold. Minhee closes the door behind him and leads him to the living room.

“No one’s home, so we’re good to talk in here,” she says as she sits down on the couch.

The last time Baekhyun was here, they were watching soapy K-dramas, eating pint after pint of strawberry Haagen-Dazs, trying to get Minhee’s mind off of the fiasco at prom. Baekhyun can’t believe it’s been almost a year since then. He carefully takes a seat across from her.

“So,” he starts, trying to sort out his thoughts. “Again, I’m just really sorry that I snapped at you like that. You said you didn’t tell anyone, and I should’ve trusted you. You would have if you were in my shoes.”

“Yes, I would have,” Minhee agrees.

“But someone did,” Baekhyun continues. “And there’s only a handful of people who know I’m gay. I know it wasn’t Jongin, and Eunjin has no reason to out me, especially not to those jerks.”

“So you thought I did it?” Minhee snorts. “Baekhyun, I thought  _ I _ was your best friend. Not them.”

“Well, yes,” Baekhyun concedes, “but… remember when we fought during finals? You said the same thing.”

“What?” Minhee frowns, puzzled. “What did I say?”

“You accused me of sucking Jongin,” Baekhyun mutters.

Baekhyun watches as Minhee’s expression softens as realization dawns on her. “Shit. So that’s why you thought I ratted you out?”

“Well, it’s the only conclusion that made sense,” Baekhyun replies. “Also, now that we’re talking about it, what the hell did you mean by that?”

Minhee sighs, rubbing her temples. “It’s… silly. Stupid. I just… I thought I was losing you.”

“What?” Baekhyun blinks.

“You know, the night of the prom,” Minhee mutters. “You… took off. After him. You didn’t stay for me.”

“Min, you—”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Minhee shakes her head. “You did the right thing. I know that. I knew that back then, too, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. And yes, I know you were there for me all of spring break. But still. Something… changed. I don’t know what happened, but something changed between the two of you. And then you were suddenly all Jongin-needs-this, Jongin-needs-that, and I just… I thought that I was being replaced.”

“But he was getting kicked out—”

“I know, Baekhyun,” Minhee cuts him off. “I know, okay? I just… sometimes, you can’t control how you feel, even if you know better.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t I know all about that,” Baekhyun chuckles. He stands up and walks around the table, sitting down on the sofa next to his best friend. “Hey, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” Minhee sniffles, tears forming in her eyes. “I fucked up so bad. All I wanted was for us to just… I don’t know, stay close? And I fucked that one up so bad. And then, I was just so ashamed, but I just couldn’t bring myself to talk to you about it. And then…. You know, even though I know it was my fault, I was still mad at you. I just kept thinking to myself that surely, if you wanted to fix us, you’d break the ice.”

“I felt the same way, to be honest,” Baekhyun mutters quietly.

“We’re both idiots,” Minhee says with a small smile, for the first time that day. “Baekhyun, I missed you.”

“I missed you more,” Baekhyun smiles back. “Also, since we’re being honest today, you were kind of right.”

“About what?”

Baekhyun takes a deep breath. “Something did happen that night.”

Minhee’s face hardens. “Go on.”

“Well, so Jongin was really drunk that day,” Baekhyun starts. “And… well, when we were going to sleep, he, uh, kissed me?”

Minhee keeps staring at him.

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun adds quickly. “I pushed him away. It’s just… well, I don’t think he meant anything by it. I just… felt weird about it. And I know you guys haven’t broken up yet at that point. I’m really sorry. Are you mad at me?”

Minhee stares at him for several seconds before bursting out in laughter. “Wait, that’s it?”

Baekhyun blinks. “Um, yes?”

“Baekhyun, you looked so guilty for  _ weeks _ ,” Minhee laughs hysterically. “That’s why I thought you hooked up with Jongin. It didn’t even occur to me that you’d be freaking out over something so silly!”

“How is it silly?” Baekhyun exclaims.

“Well, for starters, because it was a drunken kiss that you didn’t reciprocate?” Minhee smirks.

“Well, it was my first kiss,” Baekhyun mutters.

“Oh, poor you,” Minhee coos. “You were saving yourself for Sehun, weren’t you?”

“As if I had a chance,” Baekhyun grunts, looking away.

“See?” Minhee continues, pointing her finger at Baekhyun’s rapidly reddening cheeks. “I knew it! You’re still hopelessly in love with him, aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” Baekhyun shrugs. “But… I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to tell him everything, Min. That’s why I want you to be there. In case, you know, shit happens.”

Minhee wraps her arms around Baekhyun’s neck, pulling him into a tight hug. “Of course, Baekhyun. You can count on me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, friendship... let's see how long that lasts xD Anyway, this story is now coming to the end. There are about 4-5 more chapters left, depending on how much I stretch the final parts. Thanks for sticking by the story, and I'll see you around in a few days with the long-dreaded welcome party chapter!
> 
> Oh, boy, what can possibly go wrong with that one...


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a longer read than usual. Don't forget to hydrate!

“You’re shaking,” Jongin comments matter-of-factly.

“It’s cold,” Baekhyun mutters.

“It’s  _ San Francisco _ ,” Jongin retorts, “and we’re not even standing outside.”

“Okay, fine,” Baekhyun snaps. “I’m nervous, okay?”

Jongin chuckles at that. They’re standing in the middle of the Arrivals terminal at SFO. Sehun’s plane landed almost an hour ago, so he should hopefully be coming out any minute now.

_ Any minute now _ .

A drop of sweat trickles down Baekhyun’s forehead. He still can’t believe that the day has finally come. A small part of him is skeptical of this whole situation; maybe it’s just a dream, or maybe it’s all some elaborate joke, and Sehun never got on the plane in the first place.

“Hey,” Jongin nudges him in the ribcage. “Over there.”

Baekhyun looks over in the direction where Jongin’s pointing and his stomach drops.

_ He’s here _ .

Sehun walks through the sliding door, dressed in a grey coat and skinny jeans and a pair of sunglasses on his face. He walks briskly, a large suitcase trailing behind him, oozing confidence that turns heads of everyone he walks by.

“Shit,” Baekhyun hisses when he feels his whole body heat up. He’s not ready for this. He never was.

“Sehun!” Jongin shouts, waving at the star.

Sehun’s lips curl into a smile when he spots them and he waves back.

Baekhyun takes several deep breaths before following after Jongin. They close the distance pretty quickly, and as soon as they meet up, Sehun pulls Jongin into a hug.

“Hey, Nini,” Sehun grins.

“Shut up,” Jongin laughs, punching Sehun playfully.

Sehun then releases him and turns to Baekhyun. “Hi, Baekhyun.”

“Hey,” Baekhyun greets him back. For a second, he just stands there frozen. Should he shake Sehun’s hand? Should he open his arms for a hug? Should he—

Sehun resolves the dilemma for him when he pulls Baekhyun into a tight hug as well. “I missed you.”

“Uh, yeah, me too,” Baekhyun says rigidly. He spots Jongin snickering in the corner of his eye and throws his friend a nasty look. “So, how was the flight?”

“Tiring,” Sehun replies as he pulls away. “I just can’t sleep on the plane.”

“Well, we’ll take you to the apartment and then you can get some rest,” Jongin suggests.

“Sounds good,” Sehun smiles.

It all feels so surreal to him. Now that Sehun’s actually here, Baekhyun feels… strange. Suffocated. He knows Jongin and Sehun are talking about something, and he even replies to a question or two, but his brain doesn’t process anything at all. Sehun is standing right there, but it still feels too good to be true, like he would wake up from this dream any moment and Sehun would be gone.

“... can we stop here?”

Baekhyun snaps back to reality when the car pulls over. When did he even get in? Baekhyun immediately turns around and lets out a breath of relief upon seeing Sehun in the back seat. He then looks around. They’re parked outside of a busy street next to an old apartment building.

“How does it feel to be back?” Jongin asks from the driver’s seat.

“It’s weird to see this place after all those years,” Sehun laughs. “They  _ still _ haven’t fixed the windows.”

“Is this where you used to live?” Baekhyun asks when his brain catches up.

“Yeah,” Sehun nods. He pulls down the window and looks around. He seems elated to be back—or so Baekhyun thought until Sehun rolls back the window again, looking downcast. “I just wanted to… well, anyway, let’s move on.”

“Are you sure?” Jongin asks. “We can walk around for a bit. I think the T4 is still open.”

“No, it’s alright,” Sehun shakes his head quickly. “I don’t feel… well, it’s not the same anymore. It doesn’t feel like home.”

“Okay, if you insist,” Jongin shrugs.

Baekhyun wants to say something, but he can’t find any words to express himself. He can’t even imagine what it must feel like for Sehun to be back in his old neighborhood after all the years. Sehun looks lost in his own thoughts as he stares out of the window, and so Baekhyun decides to keep quiet.

They drive in silence for the next twenty minutes. Jongin must’ve also picked up on Sehun’s sudden change of mood, because he doesn’t press any more questions. The only sounds in the car are the radio playing the latest Taylor Swift album and the constant humming of the car engine.

At long last, they arrive at Jongin and Baekhyun’s shared apartment building. Jongin helps Sehun out with his luggage while Baekhyun leads the way through the staircase up to their front door. He fumbles with the keys for a hot second before finally swinging the door open.

Sehun enters, his eyes scanning the apartment. “This is so weird.”

“What is?” Jongin asks when he enters after them.

“I’ve only seen this place on the phone, but it feels so familiar,” Sehun replies. “Like I’ve been here before.”

“I didn’t realize you guys video chatted  _ that _ much,” Jongin smirks.

Baekhyun throws a glare in his housemate’s direction. Jongin knows  _ exactly _ how often Baekhyun talks to Sehun.

“Anyway, we cleared up my room for you,” Jongin continues. “My bed kinda sucks, but I hope you don’t mind too much.”

“No, you don’t have to do that,” Sehun shakes his head quickly. “It’s your room. I don’t want to impose.”

“Bullshit,” Jongin shakes his head dismissively. “You’re our guest.”

“Exactly,” Sehun nods. “I’ll just take the couch… that you don’t have.”

“Bro, we’re poor college students,” Jongin laughs before his grin falls. “Well, Baekhyun is, anyway.”

“Where were you gonna sleep?” Sehun asks. “I mean, surely not in the kitchen?”

“On the floor in Baekhyun’s room,” Jongin shrugs.

Sehun raises an eyebrow. “Well, screw that.  _ I’m _ sleeping in Baekhyun’s room.”

Baekhyun almost chokes on his own breath at those words.

“Oh?” Jongin purses his lips, looking over at Baekhyun with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Really? Well, Baekhyun, what do you say?  _ Sehun _ here wants to sleep with you.”

Baekhyun, who up to this point was perfectly happy pretending to be rummaging through the cabinets in search for something, slowly turns around. Both Sehun and Jongin are looking at him expectantly, and Baekhyun knows he’s screwed.

“That’s fine,” he manages to say without sounding too flustered. He hopes, at least.

“Great!” Jongin claps his hands. “Well, let me move my shit back to my room real quick.”

With that, Jongin disappears in Baekhyun’s bedroom, leaving only Sehun and Baekhyun in the kitchen area.

“So,” Sehun starts, “you’ve been awfully quiet.”

“Have I?” Baekhyun blinks, feigning ignorance. “I guess I was just happy to listen.”

“Well, now I want to listen,” Sehun chuckles as he pulls up a chair, sitting down on it while watching Baekhyun pointlessly organizing the utensils cabinet. “What’s new?”

“Nothing much,” Baekhyun replies. “I mean, I told you that I fixed things between me and Minhee. And that’s all that’s happened in the last 2 days. I’ve just been home with my parents.”

“And they’re not going to mind that you’re spending your break here?” Sehun asks.

“I told them we’d stop by for New Year’s Eve,” Baekhyun replies. “That is, if you don’t mind. I mean, we could do something else.”

“I’ll be happy to visit your parents, Baekhyun,” Sehun smiles.

The image of Baekhyun introducing Sehun to his parents suddenly fills his mind, and Baekhyun quickly shakes it off before it gets weird. “So, what about your parents?”

Sehun’s face hardens. “My parents?”

“You never talk about them,” Baekhyun says. “I mean, if you don’t want to talk about them, that’s fine. Sorry I asked.”

“No, it’s alright,” Sehun shakes his head. “We’re… not on speaking terms.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Baekhyun mutters. “Forget I asked anything.”

“No, it’s really fine,” Sehun waves his hand dismissively. “I just don’t talk about them cuz usually there’s nothing to talk about. We never got along, even back when we lived in Mountain View. And then, when they just decided to move back to Korea, that was the last straw.

“After we moved back, they started a business in Daejeon. I stayed with my grandparents for a while. After that, my aunt let me lease her apartment—you know, the one you’ve been to—and I haven’t really talked to them ever since.”

Baekhyun feels like there’s more to the story, but he doesn’t press the matter more.

Jongin chooses that moment to emerge from Baekhyun’s room, his arms full of clothes. “Hey, I’m done, you can unpack now.”

Thankful for the opening to change the topic, Baekhyun closes the cabinet and beckons Sehun to follow him. “Come on, let’s get you settled in.”

“Can’t wait to break in your bed,” Sehun smirks.

Baekhyun groans in frustration. Is he going to do this all the time?

“Well, this is it, I guess,” Baekhyun sighs when they enter the bedroom. “Make yourself at home.”

“Gladly,” Sehun replies cheekily as he opens his suitcase. Unsure of what to do, Baekhyun plops down on his bed and watches as Sehun starts putting away his clothes.

“You didn’t bring that much,” Baekhyun comments.

“I wanted to go shopping here,” Sehun says. “Haven’t been to Gilroy in forever.”

“Really?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “You’re making six figures and you wanna shop at an outlet?”

“That’s how the rich stay rich,” Sehun replies cheekily. “Also, where did you get that I make six figures?”

“I saw an article,” Baekhyun shrugs. “It said you got paid like ten grand per episode for your last drama.”

“Yeah, no,” Sehun shakes his head. “That’s what my  _ agency _ gets. I make barely half of that.”

“Damn,” Baekhyun mutters.

“Still, I make more than enough,” Sehun grins. “Don’t tell anyone yet, but I might land a lead role next year.”

“Really?” Baekhyun exclaims. “That’s… awesome!”

Though Baekhyun should’ve expected that. Sehun’s newest drama has just started airing, but Sehun’s popularity once again boomed, and in a mere month, he’s tripled his follower count on Instagram.

It’s a surprise they haven’t run into any of his fans at the airport, really.

“That’s why I’m heading back early,” Sehun continues. “Gotta talk to the producer and everything.”

“I guess you’ll be extra busy next year,” Baekhyun smiles weakly.

“I’ll never be too busy for you, babe,” Sehun winks at him.

And even though he knows Sehun’s just messing around, hearing those words from his mouth makes Baekhyun feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy on the inside. For a second—just one short second—he allows himself to pretend that those words are meant literally and just for him.

“Hey, where can I charge my laptop?” Sehun asks when he fishes out his laptop case.

Baekhyun springs to his feet and quickly scurries over to his desk. “Here, let me clear up some space.” He grabs all of the Math class handouts spread on his desk and shoves them into one of the drawers. “You can plug the charger under the desk—wait, do you have the adapter?”

“Of course,” Sehun says with a yawn.

“Um, I guess I’ll just let you get some rest?” Baekhyun says when he sees Sehun’s eyes dropping. “Feel free to, you know, lie on the bed and take a nap. I’ll be in the kitchen.”

“Okay, cool,” Sehun nods. “And Baekhyun?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for letting me stay. I really mean it.”

❊ ❊ ❊

It’s late afternoon by the time Sehun emerges from Baekhyun’s bedroom. His eyes are still half-closed, his hair disheveled, and his nose scrunched, making him look like a grumpy cat.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Baekhyun chuckles when he sees him.

“Morning,” Sehun replies, yawning widely. “Fuck. How long was I out for?”

“Just around four hours,” Baekhyun replies. “You hungry?”

“A little bit, yeah,” Sehun nods. “Do you have an apple or something?”

“I have a banana,” Baekhyun replies, pointing to the fruit bowl on the dining table. “Help yourself.”

“Thanks,” Sehun smiles. “I’ll definitely enjoy  _ your _ banana.”

Baekhyun smacks him on the shoulder and immediately turns pink when he realizes what he’s done. This isn’t Jongin with a stupid remark; no, this is Sehun, and Baekhyun’s just initiated body contact with him and—

“Hey, do you mind if I take a shower?” Sehun’s voice interrupts his train of thoughts.

Baekhyun blinks. Sehun’s looking at him, a half-eaten banana in his left hand.

What’s wrong with him these days? Why does he keep spacing out? Shaking his head, Baekhyun quickly nods. “Yeah, of course. Let me go grab a new towel for you.”

After he hears the water running from the bathroom, Baekhyun collapses onto the dining chair. He needs to get a grip of himself. He can’t keep zoning out like this. He’s got just six days to spend with Sehun, and this might very well be the last time he sees Sehun.

Baekhyun’s not dumb. With how Sehun’s popularity keeps soaring, it’s only a matter of time before he becomes an A-list celebrity, too busy with work and too detached from the mundane life. He’ll find celebrity friends who understand the celebrity struggles, and Baekhyun will become a mere distant memory.

And that’s why Baekhyun has to confess his feelings. Even if he has no chance, he needs closure. He’s spent the last four years living his life  _ reacting _ to Sehun’s. He can’t continue like this—he has to move on. He  _ needs _ to move on. For both of their sakes.

The front door swings open, and Jongin fumbles inside with his cousin Junmyeon in his tow.

“Did you get everything?” Baekhyun asks when he sees the two boxes of groceries they’re carrying.

“Well, we couldn’t find any of that chocolate cake thingy, so we grabbed an apple pie instead,” Jongin says as he puts his box down. “We also got something… extra.”

Baekhyun glances at the box in Junmyeon’s arms. “You got  _ booze _ ?!”

“Jongin promised me an autograph from Sehun if I bought it,” Junmyeon grins. “Um, so, where is he?”

“Probably still sleeping,” Jongin shrugs. “I’ll bring you the autograph tomorrow, okay?”

“Aww, I wanted to take a picture with him,” Junmyeon sighs. “Maybe next time then.”

“Yes,” Jongin agrees. “Next time. You’ve got other things to do, remember?”

Junmyeon winces. “Ah. Yeah. Fuck.”

He beams at Baekhyun. “I’ll see you around, Baekhyun!”

“Okay, bye,” Baekhyun waves at him. As the door closes behind Jongin’s older cousin, Baekhyun turns to his housemate questioningly. “Okay, context?”

“My grandparents from dad’s side are visiting,” Jongin explains. “They don’t know I’ve been kicked out.”

“Oh, shit,” Baekhyun’s eyes widen. “Well, shouldn’t you be there?”

“Hell no,” Jongin grimaces. “Mom’s been calling me all week but I haven’t picked up. You know, they always talked about consequences and shit, so let them taste their own medicine. Anyway, will you be fine dealing with all of this? The girls wanted me to pick them up.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Baekhyun nods.

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” Jongin says and leaves again.

With the apartment quiet again, Baekhyun gets to work. They’ve decided on a pretty simple menu for the evening: barbecued ribs, roasted chicken, grilled veggies, mashed potatoes, and for dessert a chocolate—well, apple pie now. The chicken are already roasted, so all Baekhyun has to do is put the marinated ribs into the oven, boil the potatoes, and grill the veggies an hour in. Thank god for Costco. With that, Baekhyun gets to work.

Just when Baekhyun’s about to put the potatoes onto the stove, Sehun’s head peeks into the kitchen. “Are you here alone?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods.

Sehun waltzes in, wearing nothing but his underwear, his hair still wet from the shower. “Damn, that smells amazing in here. I didn’t know you could cook!”

Baekhyun tears his eyes away from Sehun’s body and rolls them back, feigning offense. “Did you think we were living off of take-outs or what?”

“No, but like, those are ribs in the oven, right?” Sehun says as he walks over to the oven and looks through the glass door. “Yeah, those are ribs. You can make ribs?”

“I’m just following the instructions on the package,” Baekhyun shrugs, trying (and failing miserably) not to stare at Sehun’s ass too much.

“Fuck, I haven’t had Costco ribs in ages,” Sehun groans. “My mouth’s already watering.”

He then walks over to where Baekhyun is and looks over Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Potatoes?”

The warmth of Sehun’s breath on his neck sends a shiver down Baekhyun’s spine, and it takes all of his willpower not to let out a moan right then. He can practically  _ feel _ Sehun’s body against his back. Sehun’s standing so close that Baekhyun’s certain that if he moves a single muscle, their bodies will touch, and that’s something he  _ can’t _ be dealing with right now.

Luckily for him, Sehun pulls away moments later. “Let me get dressed and I’ll give you a hand, okay?”

Baekhyun quickly regains his composure. “You want to help?”

“Come on, how hard can cutting vegetables be?”

It turns out,  _ quite hard _ for Sehun. From peeling carrots to chopping chives, Sehun’s knife work is almost pathetic. At first, it was actually kind of cute how Sehun couldn’t figure out how to slice an onion into rings thinner than half an inch, but that soon became a frustration, and now Baekhyun finds himself explaining to Sehun just how exactly he’s supposed to julienne bell peppers.

“Just hold it down like this,” Baekhyun says, “and then slice it like this. Thinly.”

Sehun takes the knife from Baekhyun and gives it a try.

The peppers come out in wedges.

That’s how Minhee, Eunjin, and Jongin find them—Sehun concentrating on thinly slicing the bell peppers with Baekhyun standing over him, arms crossed.

“Oh my god, hi!” Minhee exclaims as she rushes over to give Sehun a hug. “I haven’t seen you in so long! How have you been?”

“Hey, Sehun,” Eunjin greets him with a warm smile.

“Hi, guys,” Sehun greets them back. “I’ve been great. How about you?”

While Minhee talks the ear off of Sehun, Baekhyun not-so-subtly nudges the tall boy out of the way so he can get his cutting board back. Eunjin snorts when she sees the state of the vegetables. She puts her coat and handbag away and walks over to help Baekhyun out.

“Thanks,” Baekhyun sighs.

“You’re on kitchen duty alone?” Eunjin chuckles as she quickly finishes chopping everything.

“Well, I wouldn’t trust Jongin to heat up water for tea—”

“HEY!”

“—so yeah,” Baekhyun finishes.

“You poor thing,” Eunjin coos. “It’s okay. I’m here now.”

“Thanks, mom,” Baekhyun jokes.

With her help, Baekhyun makes quick progress on his side dishes. Meanwhile, more of Sehun’s old friends pile in. The first to arrive is Tristan, a stocky blonde with an unmistakable “jock” air to him. Then there’s Amir, a tall pale man with a goatee, who turns out to be Sehun’s deskmate in middle school. There’s also Michael, another Korean-American that Baekhyun with some difficulty recognizes as his own classmate from first grade.

Just as Baekhyun finally puts a tray of broccoli into the oven, the door swings open one last time, and two girls walk in. Laura, of course, is one of them—Baekhyun’s face hardens when he sees Sehun immediately spring to his legs and walking over to greet her. Now, that by itself wouldn’t be too surprising, since Sehun’s been quick to welcome everyone so far, but unlike with everyone else, he doesn’t fist-bump or hug her. He just stands in front of her, his mouth open, but doesn’t say anything.

“Hey,” Laura smiles faintly at him. When Sehun doesn’t visibly react, she shakes her head with a chuckle and pulls him into a light hug.

Baekhyun looks away, to the other newcomer, who turns out to be… Preeyusha? What’s she doing here?

“Sup, Sehun?” the Indian girl grins and punches him lightly on the shoulder.

“Oh, hey, Preeyusha,” Sehun replies, dazed. “Long time no see.”

“No shit, man,” she laughs. “You just disappeared one day. Like, you could’ve at least told us.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Sehun laughs sheepishly, regaining his composure.

“Hi, Baekhyun, Eunjin,” Preeyusha waves at them. “What are you cooking? Can I see?”

“Just putting together some last-minute side dishes,” Eunjin replies. “We’re just about… done. Wanna join the rest?”

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead,” Preeyusha nods before her eyes meet Baekhyun’s. “I just… Baekhyun, do you have a second?”

Baekhyun blinks, confused. He glances in the living room area, where everyone’s making themselves comfortable around the makeshift table that Jongin  _ appropriated _ from his workplace (he swears his boss let him borrow it but Baekhyun’s not so sure). Sehun’s very unabashedly staring right at Laura.

“Uh, sure,” he replies, putting away his heat gloves. “Is here good enough or…?”

Preeyusha looks around and shrugs. She steps closer to Baekhyun and says in a low mutter that’s barely audible over Jongin’s RnB playlist.

“So, you know, about the whole… thing at Minhee’s party last week,” she starts slowly.

Baekhyun clenches his fist. “Listen, I’m really happy that you came, but if you—”

“No, no, of course not,” she shakes her head quickly. “That’s your business, like, I don’t give a shit. No, what I’m trying to say is….”

She steps even closer. “I’m sure that you and Minhee resolved whatever beef you had between each other, but, you know, if you  _ really _ wanna know who spread the rumor….”

Baekhyun gasps. So he was right. Someone  _ did _ out him. But who could it be? Momentarily forgetting about his woes surrounding Sehun and his ex, Baekhyun looks at his friend group.  _ No _ , he thinks to himself. He can’t even imagine that one of them would do something like that. He can’t.

And so, Baekhyun shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Preeyusha stares at him for several moments before clearing her throat. “Uh, well, okay. You know where to find me if you do change your mind though.”

She gives him a reassuring smile and leaves the kitchen to join the others. Baekhyun looks around the kitchen one more time. The ribs are finishing up in the oven, as are the veggies. His mashed potatoes are in the serving bowl, the chicken is carved up, and the salad is chilling on the counter, waiting for the final toss. Everything is good to go.

❊ ❊ ❊

Overall, the dinner portion of the evening passes by without a hitch. Of course, being the center of attention, everyone asks Sehun plenty of questions about his newfound fame. When Park Shin Hye is brought up for the eleventh time that evening, Baekhyun wonders how Sehun still manages to so effortlessly dodge the question while keeping a perfectly happy grin on his face.

But then again, he’s an actor now, so maybe that shouldn’t be surprising.

And it’s at that exact moment when Baekhyun’s chewing on the third bite of his apple pie while Sehun answers the question regarding Park Shin Hye’s bare face with a simple “she’s always on her feet working, so I don’t get to talk to her much off-set,” an unsettling thought enters Baekhyun’s mind.

_ What if Sehun’s been acting all along? _

No, surely, that’s just his brain messing with him. Right? He should really be ashamed of himself for even entertaining this train of thought.

But then, Baekhyun realizes, he can’t be certain. Sehun’s always been so… well,  _ intimate _ , for the lack of a better word, with everyone. Ever since they first met, Sehun’s been extremely touchy-feely with Baekhyun. He’s always been that way with Jongin. He got along really well with all the girls as well, and, judging by that one night Baekhyun spent with him at the party in Seoul, he’s just close to everyone. Maybe that’s part of his personality. Maybe he treats everyone as if they were his best friend.

There’s only one exception to the rule, Baekhyun realizes with a shudder—Laura Stefanoff, his ex-girlfriend. Sehun barely spoke to her all night, only ever answering whatever question she had, but those stolen glances whenever she wasn’t looking did not escape Baekhyun’s attention.

A sudden wave of somberness washes over Baekhyun, and he immediately jumps up from his seat. A few people turn to him questioningly, and Baekhyun gives them a small apologetic smile before excusing himself from the table.

“I forgot to do something,” he lies when Minhee raises her eyebrow questioningly. “I’ll be right back.”

He quickly makes his way to his room. As soon as the bedroom door closes behind him, Baekhyun collapses onto his bed. He’s not being fair to Sehun. Sehun’s an affectionate person, sure, but he wouldn’t just make up lies, right? He wouldn’t just say that Baekhyun’s his closest friend just to endear himself more to Baekhyun,  _ right _ ?

Not even ten seconds later, there’s a soft knock on his door. Baekhyun groans; he just wants to be left alone, why can’t she leave him to process his own thoughts?

“I’ll be out in a sec, Min,” Baekhyun says, face buried in his pillow.

“It’s me,” a much deeper and definitely-not-Minhee’s voice says.

Baekhyun bolts back to his feet and swings the door open.

“Are you okay?” Sehun asks in a soft tone.

_ Why are you here? _ Baekhyun wants to ask, but instead, he just shrugs and lets Sehun come in.

“You seemed… I don’t know, uncomfortable earlier,” Sehun says.

“Did I?” Baekhyun frowns. Maybe he’s not that good at hiding his emotions, after all. “Well, I’m just… I have a lot on my mind is all. You should go and talk to your friends.”

“I’m talking to my friend right now,” Sehun replies, his eyes boring into Baekhyun’s. “The only one that matters, anyway.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Baekhyun asks, holding his breath.

“Baekhyun, I know you and Jongin meant well, and I really appreciate the thought,” Sehun sighs. “I really do. But, if I’m being honest, this whole party… I don’t know. I kind of feel like an animal in a zoo.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun blinks. “Well, I’m sorry that—”

“No, don’t apologize,” Sehun stops him. “I know you meant well. And… well, I’m just, disappointed, I guess? I mean, I knew that this was bound to happen, but I still hoped that at least to some of them, I still was… just me. And then, I didn’t really expect  _ her _ to show up, and I guess I just don’t know….”

Baekhyun suddenly feels dumb. How could he even  _ suspect _ that Sehun’s been dishonest with him? If anything, Sehun’s been nothing but honest with him since the get-go.

“Do you need a second?” Baekhyun asks.

“Nah, I’ll be fine,” Sehun smiles. “I just wanted to make sure that you’re alright.”

“No, it was nothing,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “It was stupid, really. But I’m alright now. Let’s just head back out.”

By the time the two of them rejoin the rest, Jongin’s clearing the table while Minhee and Eunjin wash the dishes together. Baekhyun quickly hurries over and tries to take over from them, but Minhee promptly kicks him out of his own kitchen.

“You’ve done more than enough for today,” she shakes her head. “Go join the party. We got this.”

Reluctantly, Baekhyun agrees and turns to join the others in the living room, where Tristan and Preeyusha are getting suspiciously cuddly with each other while Michael, Amir, Sehun, and Jongin are engaged in a discussion about the Tesla Cybertruck. Just as he’s about to sit down, Laura approaches him.

“Hey, thanks for the dinner, it was great,” the petite girl says with a warm smile on her face.

“Thanks,” Baekhyun mutters. “I hope you’re having a good time.”

She’s barely spoken to anyone all evening. Baekhyun kind of wonders  _ why _ she came in the first place.

“Yeah, but I gotta run now,” she says. “My boyfriend’s waiting for me downstairs. Thanks for having me, and see you around?”

“Oh, okay, bye,” Baekhyun nods curtly.

She then walks over to say bye to the guys at the table. Baekhyun feels the pang of jealousy when Sehun offers to walk her out.

_ Maybe he’s not over her. _

Is that it? Over the years, they’ve barely mentioned her. Baekhyun kind of assumed that Sehun would quickly forget about his high school sweetheart, but what if he hasn’t? After all, Baekhyun’s nowhere near  _ over _ Sehun himself.

_ But she’s got a boyfriend waiting for her. _

So what? Sure, the chances of Sehun and her getting back together are marginal, but that doesn’t matter if Sehun still cares for her.

_ Why do you care who he likes? _

It’s not like he’s got a chance. Baekhyun knows this. At the end of the day, Sehun will settle down with some girl in a pretty house with pretty babies, and Baekhyun’s  _ not _ a part of that equation.

He really needs to move on.

And so Baekhyun does the unthinkable. While Sehun’s still out doing  _ whatever _ with Laura, Baekhyun stalks over to the cabinet next to the fridge and pulls out the box of alcohol that Junmyeon bought earlier and brings it over to the dining table.

“Who’s ready to get this party started?!”

It’s a terrible idea. Baekhyun knows this. But he doesn’t really care at this point. He’ll need all the help he can get if he’s to confess to a  _ conscious _ Sehun, after all.

“Hey, Sehun!” Tristan grins when Sehun comes back inside. “Wanna join us for some Truth or Dare?”

Sehun shrugs. “Yeah, sure, let’s do this.”

He takes an empty seat right next to Baekhyun. Baekhyun glances up and looks at his face—he looks… resigned, perhaps even disappointed.

“Okay, I’ll start” Tristan grins devilishly after all the shots are poured. “Sehun, truth or dare?”

“Why me?” Sehun groans. “Truth.”

“How many girls have you hooked up with?”

Baekhyun grips the table in front of him. He’s not going to get jealous, he’s not going to get mad, he’s going to just accept it as it is. Okay.

“Mm, eight?”

“Damn,” Amir whistles.

“My turn, right?” Sehun smirks. “Well, Minhee, I have one for you. Truth or dare?”

_ Of course he’s going after the girls. _

“Truth,” Minhee shrugs.

“How many guys in this room have you hooked up with?”

Baekhyun looks at Sehun, puzzled. What the hell is that question, even?

“Two,” Minhee replies without missing a beat.

“Wait, what?” Jongin frowns. “ _ Two? _ ”

“You heard me,” Minhee grins. “Okay, my turn. Baekhyun, truth or dare?”

Fuck. Baekhyun’s eyes widen in panic. What the hell is he supposed to choose? Minhee knows so much shit about him. But she’s also one of his best friends. Surely, she wouldn’t ask something  _ too _ personal, right? Especially in front of all these random dudes.

Still, he’d rather not risk it. “Dare.”

“Ooh, finally,” Amir snickers.

“I dare you to make out with a guy in this room,” Minhee smirks.

Fuck.

He totally should’ve known.

Leave it to Lim Minhee to come up with a way to embarrass him  _ and _ present him with a perfect opening at the same time. If he accepts the dare, no one will suspect a thing—after all, he’s just doing his dare. But if he chooses Sehun and Sehun refuses, he’d never live down the shame and his grand plan of getting drunk and confessing his feelings before he can regret it would go right down the drain.

And so, Baekhyun knocks down a shot of tequila to the boos of the other players.

“Okay, my turn,” Baekhyun hisses when he swallows down the spicy drink. “Um, Michael, truth or dare?”

“Truth?”

“What fetishes do you have?”

Of course, being the hormonal teenagers they all are, the game quickly dissolves into a contest of who can expose more sexual secrets about the rest. Baekhyun ends up taking two more shots, once when asked who his last hook-up was and once when dared to show the dirtiest picture on his phone (it’s not like he can show them Chanyeol’s dick pics, right?).

Before long, Sehun’s the only one who has  _ not _ taken a single shot, and people take notice. They all unspokenly agree to target Sehun and  _ only _ Sehun, who gets increasingly annoyed.

“Seriously, guys,” Sehun shakes his head in disbelief after he confirms that he’s hooked up with a famous actress recently. “Is there no one else you’re curious about?”

“Nope,” Eunjin grins. “Just you.”

“Well,  _ fine _ ,” Sehun rolls his eyes. “Okay. Eunjin, truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Eunjin shrugs.

“How do you feel about Jongin?”

“Fuck you,” Eunjin groans and takes a shot.

Baekhyun looks at Jongin, who looks like someone’s just kicked a puppy in front of him. The shock, dejection, anger, and disbelief are written all over his face.

“Truth or dare, Sehun?”

“Truth, obviously.”

“If you were a girl,” Eunjin asks, her speech slightly slurred, “which guy in here would you fuck?”

Sehun contemplates the question for a second. “That’s hard. I mean, probably Baekhyun? Since unlike the rest of you, he’s a nice guy and wouldn’t take advantage of me.”

Baekhyun doesn’t trust himself to look up, and so he stares down at his legs. He doesn’t know whether to be happy that Sehun chose him or angry that the only reason is that he’s not a douche.

“So, Baekhyun, truth or dare?” Sehun chimes.

Baekhyun groans. “Truth.”

“Same question—which guy in here would you fuck?”

Goddamn it. He just waltzed right into this trap. But the effects of the booze must be starting to take hold, because before his brain can stop him, his mouth replies, “You.”

Minhee squeals, Tristan’s face contorts in a grimace, and Michael howls.

“Get a room, you two,” Preeyusha scoffs.

“We already have a room, thanks,” Sehun retorts cheekily.

“He’s not getting drunk fast enough,” Jongin grunts.

“Yeah, let’s play something else,” Tristan agrees. “Kings Cup?”

Amir produces a pack of cards from somewhere, and before long, they’re all tipsy or worse—at least, in Baekhyun’s case. After the third six is drawn in quick succession, followed by a botched waterfall and Jongin’s cheeky mate, Baekhyun finally taps out as his head starts spinning. He barely manages to get up to his feet and walk five steps before promptly plopping himself down onto the floor in a corner.

He really should’ve known that he’d be the first one out, with his non-existent alcohol tolerance. He doesn’t even know when he passes out, but by the time he comes back to his senses, the drinking games have stopped. Instead, the party has broken into three small clusters: Minhee and Eunjin are in the kitchen, giggling and whispering in each other’s ears. Preeyusha and Tristan sit in the opposite corner of the room, heatedly making out, and Sehun and Jongin are just sitting at the table, staring at the ceiling.

Baekhyun musters all of his strength and scrambles back up to his feet.

“Hey, you’re up,” Sehun beams, his face flushed red.

“Mm,” Baekhyun grunts.

“Amir and Michael left a while ago,” Jongin slurs out, barely intelligibly. “Um, do you want some water?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. He staggers over to them and collapses onto a chair opposite to the guys, planting his face down on the table surface.

Jongin laughs hysterically.

“Don’t be mean, Nini,” Sehun scolds him.

“But it’s funny,” Jongin pouts. “I’ve never seen Baekhyun drunk before. He’s such a lightweight!”

“And you’re one to talk,” Preeyusha says behind them as she and Tristan also walk over. “So, uh, I think we’re gonna… move this elsewhere.”

Sehun whistles.

“Ummm,” Baekhyun says, raising his hand. “P—yusha.”

“Yeah?” Preeyusha asks, leaning over him.

Why is it such a struggle to articulate? Focusing, Baekhyun manages to mutter. “Who?”

“Who what— _ oh _ . You wanna know who spread the rumor?”

Baekhyun wordlessly nods.

“It was Amanda Cortez,” Preeyusha says. “Just before Thanksgiving. She said that in a group chat with a couple of girls, and it spread from there.”

Baekhyun frowns. Amanda Cortez? But how would she—oh. Distant memories start flooding his mind. He did tell her, didn’t he? And if it was just before Thanksgiving… he ran into her at that party. Right. “... K.”

A few minutes later, when there’s only the five of them left, it occurs to Baekhyun that maybe he should talk to Minhee about this. Now that he knows it definitely wasn’t any of them, he feels kind of lightheaded, the cloud of unease hanging over him quickly dissipating.

He spins around in his feet and suddenly feels dizzy. Maybe that lightheadedness had nothing to do with the newfound revelations, after all.

From the corner of his eye, Baekhyun spots a few pens and a stack of index cards on the table. Sprawled on the dirty table, he reaches out for the items, and his fingertips barely reach them. Grinning, he pulls a pen and a couple of cards closer to him.

He then looks at Minhee, who’s still talking to Eunjin in a hushed voice. He doesn’t know how long he stares, but eventually, he manages to get her attention and waves her over.

“Sup, pretty boy,” she says as she walks over him.

Baekhyun contemplates his words for a second before writing on the first card.

_ ‘Sorry Minhee. It wasn’t you. I was wrong.’ _

Minhee reads the card with a raised eyebrow. “I know, Baekhyun. We already talked about this. All is forgiven.”

Baekhyun shakes his head and scribbles away.

_ ‘I know who did it.’ _

“Really? Who?”

_ ‘Cortez.’ _

Minhee grimaces. “Her? How’d she know?”

Baekhyun decides that explaining that in words would take too much effort from him, so he simply writes,  _ ‘Long story.’ _

“Ah,” Minhee nods a few times. “Okay. I’ll wait for you to sober up to tell me then.”

This is actually pretty fun, Baekhyun thinks to himself. He quickly scribbles down his next note.

_ ‘Hey ^__^’ _

He gives it to Minhee and points at Sehun, who’s still absentmindedly staring at the ceiling. Minhee snickers and passes it along. Sehun looks at it, exchanges a few words with Minhee that Baekhyun’s brain can’t process, and then writes back.

_ ‘Are you really drawing out the emojis?’ _

Baekhyun grabs another stack of index cards and gets to writing.

_ ‘Yeah why not xD’ _

Minhee bursts out in laughter when she sees the smiley in Baekhyun’s handwriting.

_ ‘You’re cute when you’re drunk’ _

_ ‘You’re cute always.’ _

Yes, Baekhyun left all of his shame behind on the floor earlier.

Sehun snickers when he reads the note.

Before long, the entire table is covered with index cards, Baekhyun’s drunken messages scribbled all over them. They chat about everything and nothing at the same time, with Minhee acting as the deliverywoman in between. Baekhyun doesn’t even know if their conversation makes any sense at this point; he just writes whatever random shit comes to his mind.

_ ‘You didn’t even wish me Merry Christmas T__T,’ _ he complains in one of them.  _ ‘It’s four days too late. _ ’

_ ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ _ comes the reply from Sehun.  _ ‘How can I make it up to you, babe?’ _

Now that he’s had ten shots too many, Baekhyun replies with something he never could’ve even fathomed he’d write.

_ ‘How about your dick :P’ _

Okay, maybe the sticking-out tongue emoji was a bit too much, but Minhee’s hollering now and Sehun seems perplexed as he reads it. He takes a few seconds before he writes a reply.

_ ‘But I ain’t that easy. You gotta work for it.’ _

“What’s going on?” Jongin asks when Minhee doesn’t stop laughing.

“Just… just read it when he passes it back,” Minhee replies.

Baekhyun doesn’t pass the note back. Instead, he drops down from his chair on his knees and crawls under the table.

“Um, Baekhyun?” Sehun says, his voice faltering. “What are you doing?”

“Mmm,” Baekhyun purrs. “W-working for it.”

As he continues his drunken crawl under the table, he hits the table hard with the back of his head with an audible crack.

“Shit, are you okay?” Sehun exclaims, quickly ducking under the table and pulling Baekhyun out.

“I think he’s had too much,” Jongin says. “Let’s get him to bed?”

“Jongin!” Baekhyun shouts loudly when he notices his housemate. Where’d he come from? “Jongin, you sexy, sexy little mitten!”

“What’s wrong with him?” Eunjin frowns when she joins them at last.

“He hit his head on the table,” Minhee explains.

“Jongin!” Baekhyun continues. “You’re so hot!”

“You think something happened to him when he hit his head?” Jongin mutters, his face completely flushed red, though Baekhyun’s not sure whether that’s because of embarrassment or alcohol.

“But Jongin,” Baekhyun continues, “you really shouldn’t be selling yourself online.”

Everyone immediately stiffens. Eunjin and Minhee exchange glances while Sehun looks at Jongin, whose face hardens.

“What’s he talking about?” Eunjin frowns.

“Nothing,” Jongin hisses. “He’s just drunk.”

“Eunjin,” Baekhyun continues, “did you know Jongin still likes you?”

“Shut up, Baekhyun,” Jongin says through gritted teeth.

“Why?” Baekhyun whines. “I’m just trying to help!”

“Well, your help is not wanted,” Jongin snaps at him and shoves past him, slamming his own bedroom door after himself.

“Oh, no,” Baekhyun whimpers. “No, Jongin, no, I’m sorry! Don’t be mad!”

“I’ll put him to bed,” Sehun mutters to the girls. “He’s had enough.”

“Yeah,” Eunjin nods. “Good idea. I’ll… I’ll see if I can talk to Jongin.”

And once again, just like half a year ago, Baekhyun finds himself in Sehun’s arms, practically carried to his room. Sehun carefully puts him on the bed and drags his blanket over him.

“Get some rest, Baekhyun,” Sehun says softly.

“But I don’t want to,” Baekhyun retorts, though he’s already melting against his pillow. “I’m not… tired….”

Sehun sits down on the floor next to the bed. “Then I’ll keep you company until you are.”

“Don’t go,” Baekhyun mutters.

“I’m right here,” Sehun smiles at him. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter didn't turn out quite as I was planning. I've had a bullet-point summary of what was supposed to happen ready since April, but when I actually started writing it, there just was too much going on. Maybe splitting it up would've worked better, I don't know. I dropped several subplots from the chapter, including one whole character, which would've made this likely at least twice as long and probably much more cohesive. I'll write more about this on Twitter (@victorrotto) for those interested.
> 
> Let me know if you liked/didn't like it. Any comments are appreciated! Now with this out of the way, we've only got a few chapters left to the story. Will Baekhyun *finally* grow some balls and confess his feelings for real?


	20. Chapter 20

Baekhyun wakes up with a splitting headache and a dry throat. Fuck. He really shouldn’t be drinking. Groaning, he crawls out of his blanket and barely manages to sit up. He needs water.

He reaches for his phone under his pillow, but it’s not there. Confused, Baekhyun opens his eyes and tries to look for it, but he freezes when he notices Sehun on the floor in front of him.

The reality of yesterday comes crashing down on him, fast, and Baekhyun feels like someone’s slapped him wide awake.

_ It wasn’t just a dream _ .

Horrified, Baekhyun bolts up to his feet when he remembers all the shit he said last night. He literally asked Sehun for his dick.

Fuck his life.

That’s definitely  _ not _ how he wanted to come out to Sehun. Fuck. Maybe he could play it off as a joke? Baekhyun winces. He can’t do that. If he does, he’ll never be able to actually tell Sehun how he truly feels.

Maybe Sehun won’t ask him about it. Maybe he’ll just think that Baekhyun was spewing nonsense in his drunken state, or that it was a poor attempt at a sexually charged joke.

Except Baekhyun never initiates those—that’s just Sehun alone. Fuck. But maybe he could ask Jongin—

_ Jongin. _

Fuck. Baekhyun’s whole body starts shaking when he remembers what he said to his friend last night, in front of the whole group. He quickly scrambles to his feet and rushes out of his room. He’s gotta apologize to Jongin properly if—

Just as he’s about to reach Jongin’s bedroom, the door swings open, almost hitting him in the face. Still hungover, Baekhyun loses his balance as he tries to dodge it and flops down on the carpet. Blinking a few times, he looks up, only to face a very flustered Eunjin, wearing one of Jongin’s shirts, coming out.

They stare at each other for a few seconds before Eunjin slams the door shut again.

What. The. Fuck?

He hears quiet footsteps behind him, and before long, a large hand rests on his shoulders. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Baekhyun nods. He turns around to face a still half-asleep Sehun. “I just… lost balance.”

Sehun gives him a warm smile, and for a moment, Baekhyun forgets about everything else and just  _ melts _ at the sight in front of him. If only he could wake up to this every day.

“How are you holding up?” Sehun asks him. “You got pretty wild last night.”

Baekhyun gulps. Fuck. Unlike last time he got wasted, Baekhyun remembers  _ everything _ . “Uh, I’m not sure….”

“It’s okay, nothing happened this time around,” Sehun tells him.

_ Does that mean that something happened last time?! _

No. Baekhyun shakes his head. Sehun’s  _ straight _ , there’s no way something happened between them in the summer. Right.

He slowly gets up from the floor, leaning against the wall for support. “Uh, I’m hungry.”

“Same,” Sehun nods. He stares at Jongin’s door for a few seconds. “Yeah, no. I think they’ll be fine by themselves.”

“ _ They _ ?” Baekhyun repeats. “So… Eunjin and Jongin…?”

“Yep,” Sehun grins before raising his voice. “I’m sure they’ll have plenty of fun without us!”

Something hits Jongin’s bedroom door on the other side with a soft thud.

“See?” Sehun laughs. “It’s all good. Don’t worry about Nini. If anything, he should thank  _ you _ for that divine intervention yesterday.”

“Shut up, Sehun!” Jongin shouts from the inside, his voice strangely muffled, as if his face was buried in… okay, no, Baekhyun’s  _ not _ finishing that thought.

“Let’s wash up and go get some breakfast,” Sehun suggests.

“Okay.”

❊ ❊ ❊

It’s not until an hour later, when Baekhyun’s sipping on his morning latte and nibbling on his french toast, that Sehun finally recounts the events from last night.

“Well,” Sehun starts as he chews on a piece of bacon, “after you passed out, we tried to get Jongin out of his room, but I forgot how stubborn he could be. We gave up after a while, and Minhee called an Uber. So I walked her out, and by the time I got back, they were all over each other in the hall. So yeah.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun mutters, his fists clenching. He knows he’s being unreasonable; there’s nothing wrong with Sehun walking Minhee out at that hour. Still, Baekhyun can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy.

Shaking his head, Baekhyun takes another sip from his latte. He really, really needs to get over Sehun. Fast. Clearing his throat, Baekhyun speaks up. “So, Sehun, listen….”

The coffee shop door behind Sehun opens and Baekhyun stops dead in the middle of his sentence when he sees a familiar, tall jock walk in. Their eyes meet for the briefest moment, and Chanyeol’s pensive expression turns into a huge grin as he swaggers over.

“Baekhyun!” he exclaims excitedly. “I didn’t know you stayed in town! How are your holidays going?”

“Oh, hi, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun greets him back. “Um, I’m good, how are you?”

“Pretty good myself,” Chanyeol grins. He then looks at Sehun. “You look… familiar.”

“I’m Sehun,” Sehun introduces himself with an outstretched arm.

“Oh shit!” Chanyeol gasps when realization dawns on him. “You’re—you were in that drama about astronauts!”

“Yep,” Sehun nods with a smile.

“Baekhyun, you didn’t tell me you were friends with a celebrity!” Chanyeol says, nudging Baekhyun.

“Really?” Sehun raises an eyebrow.

“There just wasn’t an opportunity to bring it up,” Baekhyun defends himself.

“Well, I’ve heard plenty about you, Chanyeol,” Sehun says, a smirk forming on his lips. “I’m finally meeting the guy who replaced me in Baekhyun’s life.”

Baekhyun groans at the silly jab.

Chanyeol, however, doesn’t seem to get that it’s a joke, and flustered, he says, “Shit, dude, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know Baekhyun was taken. I mean, he said he was single… I mean, it didn’t mean anything between us…”

Baekhyun’s eyes bulge out in horror when he realizes the implications of Chanyeol’s words.

Sehun’s grin freezes on his lips as he slowly turns to look at Baekhyun in confusion.

Baekhyun gawks at him, completely at loss for words.

“... And I’m guessing that that’s not what you meant at all?” Chanyeol whispers when he notices the looks on both of their faces. “Shit. Um, silly me, I forgot I have an essay to write… so yeah, I guess I’ll see you guys around… or something...”

They sit in complete silence for several minutes. Baekhyun stares down at his plate, too scared to face Sehun. Fuck. He wanted to come out to Sehun, sure, but  _ not _ like this. What will Sehun think of him now?

“Baekhyun,” Sehun says finally after an eternity. His voice is quiet, soft, and somber. “Are you okay?”

Is he okay? How could he be  _ okay _ ? He takes a deep breath before speaking up. “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I didn’t mean to lie to you,” Baekhyun says slowly. “I was going to tell you. Eventually. Sometimes this week. It’s just… I wanted to tell you yesterday, but things didn’t work out obviously, and—”

“Baekhyun, why are you apologizing?” Sehun interrupts him.

“Because I should have told you,” Baekhyun winces. “I should’ve told you ages ago, but I was just… scared. That if I told you, something would change.”

“Why would anything change?” Sehun asks. “Baekhyun, who you like doesn’t make any difference to me. You’re still you. You’re Baekhyun. That’s all that matters.”

“What if… what if that’s not all?” Baekhyun mutters quietly, taking a deep sip from his coffee.

Sehun’s expression softens, and Baekhyun’s eyes widen in shock as he realizes that Sehun understands exactly what he means. “It still wouldn't change how I feel about you.”

Baekhyun gulps as he puts down his mug. “... And how do you feel about me?”

Sehun leans back in his seat, carefully choosing his next words. “You’re… my closest friend.”

_ A friend. _

“Whenever I talk to you, I feel like I can just be myself.”

_ A comfortable friend. _

“I’d trust you with anything.”

_ A dependable friend. _

“Can we, uh, go back?” Baekhyun says finally, his voice shaking. “I don’t… I’m not in the mood for food.”

“Of course,” Sehun nods with a warm smile, a  _ too warm _ of a smile in Baekhyun’s opinion. “Let me get the bill.”

The ride home is quiet. Baekhyun’s eyes are glued on the road, but he can feel Sehun’s gaze on him. He can’t even begin to imagine what must be going through the other’s mind. If it were him in Sehun’s spot, he’d feel betrayed. Sure, he  _ knows _ that nothing’s really changed, that he’s not a different person just because of his orientation. He  _ knows _ that, and so does Sehun, it seems. But that still doesn’t change the fact that he failed to come out to Sehun, who considers him his best friend. How can Sehun be fine when Baekhyun’s disappointed in himself?

By the time they get back, the entire apartment is, by some miracle, back in shape. All the trash’s been thrown out, all the dishes have been washed, and Jongin and Eunjin are gone. Baekhyun knows he should be calling Jongin to explain himself, but he can only deal with one problem at a time, and so, taking a deep breath, as soon as the door closes behind the taller, he speaks up.

“Can I… can I just explain myself?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Sehun tells him. “Baekhyun, really, you don’t owe me an apology or explanation or anything else. You can like anyone you want.”

Hearing those words, Baekhyun finally looks up, into Sehun’s face. The other’s looking back at him with a warm, reassuring smile, and that’s all it takes for Baekhyun to muster all of his courage and finally break down the last of his reservations.

“I don’t just like anyone. I like you.”

The silence that follows his confession is deafening. Taking a deep breath, Baekhyun waits for the shocked gasp, followed by the inevitable rejection. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Four—

“I know.”

Baekhyun chokes on the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “W-what?”

Sehun bites his lower lip. “I know that you like me.”

Tears start welling in Baekhyun’s eyes as his emotions overwhelm him. “H-how?”

“Well, I didn’t know for sure,” Sehun explains slowly. “But… I’ve suspected it ever since the summer.”

Baekhyun gulps, trying to fight back the rush of panic building inside him. “Did I… did I do something…?”

Sehun shakes his head. “I just… I think I’ve always had a feeling. You know, honestly, we weren’t even that close four years ago, right? But after I moved away, you kept in touch. More than the people I thought were my best friends. And you’ve always been there for me. But then I thought, maybe that’s just how you are.

“And then, during the summer when you visited, I was just really happy to see you. And you seemed really happy too. But every time I thought we were having fun, you would just… I don’t know, pull away? First at my apartment, then at the party. I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but then I thought about it after you left. It was because of Yoona, wasn’t it?”

Has he been that obvious? 

“And then yesterday,” Sehun continues, “you seemed upset about something. Was it because of Laura?”

Baekhyun lets out an exasperated laugh. Sehun sees right through him. “... Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying sorry,” Sehun says. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable around me,” Baekhyun mutters.

“I’m not uncomfortable around you,” Sehun shakes his head. “I never was, and I will never be. But you are, aren’t you?”

Baekhyun blinks. “I’m sorry?”

“You’re uncomfortable around me,” Sehun repeats. “You’ve been on edge since yesterday.”

“No, of course I’m not!” Baekhyun shakes his head quickly. Why would he be uncomfortable around Sehun? This is everything he ever wanted—he just wanted to tell Sehun how he feels so that he could finally be himself around him, and… and… and what?

“You are,” Sehun states.

Baekhyun winces. “Maybe a little bit,” he admits as he looks away. He can’t look into those kind, understanding eyes. He feels completely exposed in front of them as if Sehun could see into the innermost depths of his mind.

“What are you really scared of, Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Maybe it’s high time he was honest to himself, too. “I just don’t want to lose you. I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long time now, but every time, I was too scared of your reaction. I know you don’t like me, and I know I have no chance with you, but… Sehun, it hurts so much. I can’t… I can’t keep living like this. I want to move on from you, but at the same time… I can’t imagine not having you in my life. So that’s why I’m sorry. I know I can’t have you, but I can’t lose you, either. So I’m sorry.”

“And why on earth would you think you can’t have me?”

Baekhyun feels like he’s just been slapped. “Sehun, this is already difficult for me as it is. Please don’t make it worse. Please.”

“I’m not trying to,” Sehun says softly. “But you said a few things there that I can’t agree with. For starters, you said you know I don’t like you. That’s not true at all.”

“I meant romantically,” Baekhyun mutters.

“That’s what I meant, too.”

Baekhyun blinks. “What?”

“You think that I’m straight,” Sehun continues. “And, frankly, that’s what I thought too. I’ve never felt attracted to any of the guys I’ve met or seen on TV. Sure, there were times I thought they were good-looking, but that was always objectively speaking. But when it comes to you, Baekhyun, I just… I don’t know how to explain it. You’re… different. From everyone else. For years now, I’ve only been able to be truly myself around you. Talking to you is always the highlight of my day. Sure, holding fan meetings and partying is fun and all, but it’s not satisfying. No matter what I did, I always found myself thinking how much better it’d be if you were there.

“And before you say I’m just confused about my own feelings, trust me, I thought long and hard about it. I’ve always been an ally—or at least that’s what I believe—so at first, I thought I was just… making things up. Trying to be someone who I am not. Except that no matter how I look at it, there’s one thing that doesn’t change, and that’s you. I care about you, a lot. More than just a friend.”

“But you just said you don’t like guys.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Sehun nods. “I don’t like guys, but I like you.”

“But I’m a guy,” Baekhyun says dumbly.

“Yes, and I like you,” Sehun repeats. “I don’t know what it all means. I don’t think I’m gay, Baekhyun, but if it makes sense, I think I’m gay for you.”

“I—”  _ What the hell is Baekhyun supposed to say?! _

“You still don’t believe me,” Sehun frowns. Then, he takes one step, two steps closer to Baekhyun, until they’re just inches apart. He places his arms on Baekhyun’s waist, sending shivers down Baekhyun’s back, leaning down until their noses almost touch and their eyes are level. “Is it okay if I…?”

Baekhyun holds his breath, lost in those deep brown eyes, knowing exactly what Sehun’s asking him but unable to open his mouth to reply, so instead, he nods lightly before closing his eyes. And then their lips meet, and Baekhyun lets out a sigh of content when he feels Sehun’s warm lips against his. It’s not a passionate, lustful smooch that Baekhyun imagined countless times in his head; no, it’s a hesitant but curious kiss, but it’s one between him and Sehun, and that’s all Baekhyun could hope for at the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the extremely long wait. I just... things happened and I had a hard time writing for quite a while. This is the 7th version of this chapter, and all of them suck to be honest, but I feel like this one sucks the least, so here you go...? I hope you enjoyed it. I don't think I did Sehun enough justice in this chapter, but at the same time, I don't think it would be right to just have him monologuing to explain himself. As with everything else in this story, his character is based on someone I know who realized she was bisexual in our junior year of college. It's really hard to articulate all of the inner turmoil, and I hope I didn't do too much of a disservice to her or anyone else in a similar situation. I'm more of a Baekhyun in the sense that I kind of always knew where I stand on things, so I'm not gonna lie, I don't quite get it, but I did my best to place myself in those shoes.
> 
> Anyway, the next chapter will deal with the whole Jongin fallout and more sebaek exploring and figuring stuff out. It's also going to be the last chapter of the story and will hopefully wrap up everything. It's not the end, though - there will be a time skip epilogue (because the story wouldn't be cliche enough without one) which will more or less let y'all know where all the important characters in the story ended up. Until then, stay strong and safe, everyone!


End file.
